No Jail for Colorado Teacher in Student Sex Case

(Aurora, Colorado) In March 2008, a former teacher and girls athletic trainer at Hinkley High School, Yvette Starzyk, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old male student.

Starzyk originally faced felony charges of sexual abuse of a child and sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust stemming from offenses which occurred in 2004. Starzyk was ultimately convicted of attempted sexual assault by a person in a position of trust.

Yesterday, Yvette Starzyk, 27, was sentenced by Adams County Judge Michael A. Cox to probation after suspending a three-year prison term.

Defense lawyer Steven R. Barnes said Starzyk already has paid considerably for her crime, saying she has lost her teaching job and lost friends.

However, Sharon Holbrook, senior trial deputy district attorney, took exception to some statements made by Starzyk and her supporters that they didn't think the incident was serious.

In her probation report, Holbrook noted, Starzyk had called the incident a "rite of passage" for the victim.

The prosecutor said had the offender been a male teacher who was convicted of sexual assault on a child the "community would be outraged."

Judge Cox also ordered Starzyk to register as a sex offender.

In all candor, it seems useless to even comment anymore on the non-punishment of female sex offenders.