A high school Spanish teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a student was sentenced to 2 years in jail on Friday.
On June 18, Toni Sutton, 38, admitted to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and one count of oral copulation with a minor.
Sutton, a Spanish teacher and volleyball coach at Crawford High School was arrested in January for having a sexual relationship with a 16-year old student. The victim’s parent contacted police after discovering inappropriate text messages between Sutton and the student.
During Friday’s sentencing, the victim’s mother became emotional reading a letter from her son.
“I don’t know how to feel. I don’t whether to be angry or sad,” Loretta read in court. “My whole life has been turned upside down since this happened.”
She went on to say that her son was not the outgoing person he had been before. and that he blamed himself for what happened.
“I thought that I could trust this teacher with my son but I was wrong,” Loretta told the Judge on Friday.
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Loretta says although Sutton was only sentenced to two years in prison, she’s happy that justice was served.
“I probably would never forgive but I hope she gets the help she needs so it doesn’t happen to another child,” she told NBC 7.
Loretta also advised other parents to pay more attention to their kids’ social media and to listen to them.
“You know, maybe they’re trying to tell you something but in everyday life, we’re so busy to where we could hear what our children say but we’re not listening,” she said.
Sutton was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
