Convicted Teacher Gets Early Release - Updated/Bumped

(Painesville, Ohio) Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph Gibson granted Maggie Laughlin's request for early release.

However, Laughlin will have to complete 200 hours of community service and register as a sex offender. Her teaching career is history.

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Convicted Ohio Teacher Wants Early Release - Updated/Bumped
[Previous 11/3/08 post]
(Painesville, Ohio) Less than 10 weeks into her three-year prison sentence, Maggie Laughlin wants out.

Maggie Laughlin, the 23-year-old former Mentor math teacher sentenced in August to three years in prison for having oral sex with a ninth-grade student, is asking to be released early from prison.

A hearing has been scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. Less than three months after Lake County Common Pleas Judge Paul Mitrovich sentenced her, he will decide whether she will be released.

No specific reason was disclosed for her request for early release. Maybe she believes Judge Mitrovich has changed his mind.

Personally, I believe the standard response for this type of request should consider whether a man in similar circumstances would be released early.


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Ohio Teacher Maggie Laughlin Gets Prison in Sex Case
[Previous 8/27/08 post]
(Painesville, Ohio) Former 9th-grade teacher Maggie Laughlin sobbed during sentencing today in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

Laughlin was apologetic as Judge Paul Mitrovich sentenced her to three years in state prison.

"I have always wanted to teach and I am a failure at the only thing I wanted to be good at because of choices I made," she said.

Laughlin, a first-year teacher at Shore Junior High School in Mentor, admitted to performing oral sex on the student the last eight days of school when she pleaded guilty earlier this month to eight counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a juvenile. She claimed he initiated the relationship, which lasted about two months.

Her attorney indicated that Laughlin cooperated with police and admitted her mistakes to spare the victim, but assistant prosecutor Jason Wuliger said she showed no remorse and kept in contact with the victim, even asking him to lie about their relationship.

Laughlin, of Willowick, graduated in 2007 from Heidelberg College, where she was named student teacher of the year. She resigned from the district at the end of the school year, saying she planned to move to Michigan, marry her fiance and work in an all-boys school, Wuliger said.

Unfortunately, Laughlin's plans and career have been dramatically altered. Instead of an all-boys school, she will be in an all-girls prison. It's not known if she was ordered to register as a sex offender but it is expected that she will lose her teaching license.


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NE Ohio Teacher - Alleged Sex Acts on Boy in Classroom
[Previous 6/19/08 post]
(Mentor, Ohio) A 23-year-old math teacher at Shore Junior High School, Maggie Laughlin, was arrested yesterday for allegedly performing sex acts on a 15-year-old male student in the classroom before school started.

The boy's ex-girlfriend's mother became aware of the situation and alerted authorities.

Laughlin was arraigned on charges of sexual battery and improper sexual conduct with a minor.

Laughlin submitted her resignation to the school district on June 9. Bond was set at 10% of $200,000.


[Update 8/13/08]

Maggie Laughlin, 23, pleaded guilty today to eight counts of unlawful sex with a juvenile and she will be sentenced later this month.

"I became involved with a student and the relationship became sexual in nature and I performed oral sex on him," Laughlin said to Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Paul Mitrovich.

Laughlin faces a possible 18 months in prison when sentenced.