Florida Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated

(Fort Lauderdale, Florida) Earlier today, former Lauderhill Middle School teacher Kristen Nicole Sullivan, 27, accepted a plea agreement offered by the prosecution.

She had a choice between going to prison and avoiding registration as a sex offender or going on probation with lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Sullivan chose prison and pleaded no contest to aggravated child abuse and aggravated battery charges.

As a result, Broward Circuit Judge Lisa Porter sentenced Sullivan to three years in prison and ordered her to surrender to begin her prison term on January 3. If she fails to appear, the three-year prison term will be increased to 90 years.

Sullivan was formally sentenced to 30 years in prison on each of two aggravated child abuse counts and 15 years on each of two aggravated battery counts, a total of 90 years behind bars. Porter said that sentence will be applied if Sullivan fails to surrender on Jan. 3.

It seems a short stretch in prison is preferable to a lifetime as a sex offender.

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Florida Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy, 14
[Previous 4/22/10 post]
(Broward County, Florida) A 25-year-old teacher at Lauderhill Middle School, Kristen Sullivan (aka Kirsten), was arrested this week for allegedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old male student.

Sullivan has been charged with two counts of sexual battery on a minor and one count of sex offense against a minor.

Sullivan allegedly met the boy at a boxing program and then transfered the teen into her computer class so she could make her move. The sexual encounters started after Sullivan changed the boy's grade from a "C" to a "B," according to a police report.

They first had sex in a computer storage room at the school, the boy told police and would sometimes have sex at least three times in a day.

Sullivan also gave the boy gifts like a mobile phone, jewelry and cash, police said. The police report also claims the woman bought the teen marijuana and that Sullivan may have been impregnated by the teen.

Sullivan was booked into custody at the Broward County Jail and subsequently released on bond.