Teacher Deluca Tells Court New Story

(West Jordan, Utah) As reported previously, of three recent sex crime cases of female teachers in Utah, Melinda Deluca is the only one to get any jail time. In January 2007, she received a paltry 90 days for forcible sex abuse. Deluca was originally charged with two counts of forcible sex abuse of a 16-year-old boy, one of her students, in February 2006.

Readers may also recall that Deluca fabricated a story about being beaten by two unknown assailants which required her to be hospitalized. Hundreds of investigative hours were expended before she admitted the story was created to garner sympathy.

In a new development, half way through her 90 day sentence, 30-year-old Deluca returned to court yesterday to request an early jail release. She claimed that the jail is unable to provide proper medical treatment for seizures and body tremors. The court was asked to allow her to serve her remaining time on home confinement.

[As an aside, it was the defense's argument that Deluca's self-medication of anti-seizure drugs caused her to molest the 16-year-old in the first place. Ironically, she's asking the court for a chance to place herself in the same circumstances.]

Nevertheless, the judge denied her request without proof that the jail cannot adequately provide for her. As a parting shot, the judge also said her original sentence was too lenient.