Teacher Christine Scarlett Guilty in Sex Case

(Strongsville, Ohio) After a "Win A Date With Teacher" contest, Strongsville High School teacher Christine Scarlett, 36, and the winner, 17-year-old Steven Bradigan, began an enduring sexual relationship that ultimately resulted in a son being born.

Significantly prior to the child's birth, however, the affair was discovered and reported with Scarlett being fired by the school system.

In May 2006, Steven Bradigan and Christine Scarlett agreed to share custody of their son. After her termination from the teaching position, Scarlett moved on with life with her supportive husband, her son, and a 9-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

In June 2006, former teacher Christine Scarlett was arraigned on 18 counts of sexual battery resulting from the intimate relationship with special-education student Steven Bradigan.

On Friday, Christine Scarlett, now 40 years old, pleaded guilty to five counts related to the seduction of Steven Bradigan. Her guilty plea avoided a potentially sensational student-teacher sex trial which had been scheduled to begin tomorrow. The case has already garnered significant national interest.

From PD:

About 6 p.m. Friday, in a last- ditch attempt to avoid trial, Scarlett pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery and two counts of disseminating obscene materials to juveniles. She originally faced 18 felony sexual battery charges.

Punishment was not an element of the plea deal; that will be entirely up to the judge, said Ryan Miday, a spokesman for County Prosecutor Bill Mason.

Judge Dick Ambrose could send her to prison for 17 years if he chooses to give her the maximum penalty allowable at her sentencing June 12.

[ ... ]

Had the case gone forward, Steven Bradigan was prepared to recount how Scarlett, his 36-year-old English teacher, took him on a date to a Dairy Queen at the SouthPark mall in November 2002, then made out with him in the parking lot afterward.

Their relationship continued after Scarlett left her teaching job early in 2003 and off-and-on for the next two years. The affair was common knowledge in the high school and was the subject of snide jokes by teachers and students alike, the Bradigans' lawyer said.

Any thoughts Scarlett had about denying the criminal relationship were precluded by a DNA test that showed Bradigan was the father of her son and by stacks of X-rated photos of the couple snapped by his high school buddies.

CourtTV apparently had a camera crew ready to broadcast the trial which, in my opinion, would have been gripping, a ratings giant. And Scarlett likely would not have benefitted at all.

My guess is that Scarlett will get some, but not much, jail time at sentencing on June 12th. Six months max. Of course, I've been fairly inaccurate in previous predictions, so expect anything.

Companion post at Conservative Thinking.


[Update 06/13/07]

Scarlett sentenced to three days in jail.