Ohio Teacher Gets Treatment for Sex with Boy

(Ironton, Ohio) In April 2007, a 35-year-old teacher at Rock Hill Middle School, Melissa Bare, was indicted by a Lawrence County grand jury on two counts of sexual battery for engaging in sex with a 16-year-old male student. Bare pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Bare was suspended with pay from her teaching position in February when an investigation into alleged misconduct was launched.

Yesterday, Bare, now 36, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery in accordance with an agreement with the prosecution. Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge Charles Cooper then sentenced Bare to a treatment program at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center and four years of community control.

Judge Cooper also ordered Bare to register as a sexually-oriented offender and to surrender her teaching license.

Defense attorney Derick Fisher stated that Bare expresses her "deepest apology" to the victim and his family.