Woman Gets No Jail in Fondling Case - Updated

(Bristol, Tennessee) This week, 28-year-old local woman, Mariah Shaffer, pleaded guilty to a charge of simple assault stemming from the alleged fondling of a 14-year-old boy at her home.

Shaffer was originally charged with sexual battery by an authority figure.

She pleaded guilty to a lesser offense of simple assault and was granted supervised probation in lieu of 11 months and 29 days in jail Monday morning in Sullivan County Circuit Court.

As a condition of her probation, Shaffer is to have no contact with her victim.

* * * * *
Woman Accused of Fondling Boy
[Previous 2/25/10 post]
(Kingsport, Tennessee) In October 2009, a 27-year-old married woman, Mariah Shaffer, was arrested for alleged sexual battery and fondling of a 14-year-old boy to whom she was the primary guardian.

According to court records, the teen said he was on Shaffer’s bed watching TV on Nov. 14, 2008, when Shaffer walked out of the bathroom wearing only a towel. He alleged that she removed the towel, exposed her body to him, got on top of him, and fondled him over his clothes.

The boy said he told her to stop, and then Shaffer’s husband arrived home. The boy said he believed Shaffer only stopped because she’d heard her husband’s truck pull into the driveway.

There's a lot of admissions and denials and he-said-she-said in the case which was bound over to the grand jury this week. Meanwhile, Shaffer is free on $15,000 bond. A court appearance is scheduled for April 16.