Teacher's Aide Suzanne Eble Sentenced

(Canton Township, Michigan) Updating a previous report, 35-year-old teacher's aide Suzanne (Susanne) Eble pleaded no contest in Wayne County Circuit Court to three counts of third-degree and one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for having sexual relations with a 14-year-old boy. Eble was sentenced Monday to not less than 15 months and not more than 15 years in prison.

My prediction is that she won't even spend six months in jail, if that. Now, if a 35-year-old man were looking at the punishment for felony criminal sexual conduct with a 14-year-old girl, the scenario would likely have a completely different outcome.

Personally, I don't think Eble's motivation for having sex with a boy was adequately explored in the investigation. I mean, is she a pedophile? Or, was she distraught or drugged and the temptation of forbidden sex was too alluring to resist? Did her dog die? Is she stupid? Hell! We just don't know, do we? And she's going to lead the rest of her life, raising her two children, being around her two children's friends, and nobody knows exactly what kind of threat she'll be.

Obviously, I believe that, across the board, sexual offenders are treated with dangerous lenience, male and female both. In the case of Eble, she was a teacher's aide when the sex occurred but, and the court made special note of this fact, she didn't meet the boy at school. Somehow, this mitigates the severity of her crime in the court's eyes which, apparently, justifies her light sentence. I don't see it that way. If she didn't meet the kid in school, so what? Obviously then, she must have met him while cruising the neighborhood or by luring him into her gingerbread house. What difference does it make? Seems the same to me.

In any event, there's no mention of registration as a sex offender nor is it known whether she'll continue to be allowed to teach. As for corrective action to preclude future criminal behavior? I guess society will just have to hope that her husband keeps an eye on her.