Teacher Gets No Jail in Molestation Case

(Buttonwillow, California) In January 2006, seventh-grade language arts teacher at Buttonwillow School, Sherry Brians, 42, was charged with engaging in lewd acts with a 12-year-old boy. The boy's mother alerted the Kern County Sheriff's Office after finding a romantic letter from Brians to the boy.

In the latest development, Brians has accepted the terms of a plea agreement which reduces the charges to misdemeanor molestation.

She pleaded no contest to Monday's lowered charges, said Robert Miller, deputy district attorney in the Shafter-Wasco branch of Kern County Superior Court.

Her formal sentencing will take place May 11, but her sentence would include performing 80 hours of community service, five years probation, counseling, no unsupervised contact with non-related minors, no contact with the victim or his family and no contact with the school, Miller said.

Miller explained that the charges were reduced because Brians has a serious medical condition. She is apparently struggling to recover from brain surgery performed in late 2005 to remove a tumor. Miller believes her illness might have been a complicating factor if her case went to trial.