Teacher Gets No Jail in Sex Case - Updated

(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Former Monessen High School English teacher Ashley Herre-Bagwell, 30, was sentenced to probation Friday for sending sexually explicit text messages to three female students.

The mother of one of her victims told Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Debra A. Pezze that Herre-Bagwell's actions deeply affected her daughter and forced her to miss out on her junior year in school.

"This has been a devastating thing. I thought that when I sent my child to school she was safe, and our trust was violated," the mother said.

Herre-Bagwell made no statements as Pezze imposed the terms of a plea bargain. She will serve seven years on probation, including one year on house arrest while connected to an electronic monitor.

Pezze ordered her to undergo sexual offenders treatment and to not have contact with the victims and or unsupervised contact with minors.

Herre-Bagwell was fired from her teaching position.

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Teacher Guilty of Sex with Teen Girls - Updated
[Previous 8/27/11 post]
(Monessen, Pennsylvania) Former Monessen High School English teacher Ashley Herre-Bagwell, 30, has pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting three female students.

Herre-Bagwell was an English teacher at Monessen High School when she had sexual contact with the students from September 2009 until March 2010. Authorities said some of the contact may have happened in the teacher's locked classroom.

Herre-Bagwell was fired in June 2010 and voluntarily surrendered her state teaching certificate in October.

In accordance with a plea agreement, Ashley Herre-Bagwell receives house arrest and probation when formally sentenced in about three months.

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Teacher Accused of Sex with Teen Girls
[Previous 9/7/10 post]
(Monessen, Pennsylvania) Last March, a 29-year-old 10th-grade teacher at Monessen High School, Ashley Herre-Bagwell, was suspended from her teaching position when allegations of sexual impropriety surfaced. She was fired in June.

Earlier today, Ashley Herre-Bagwell was arrested and charged with multiple sex offenses against two 10th-grade girls.

According to a criminal complaint, the mother of one of the students found hundreds of text messages between her daughter and the teacher.

The complaint stated that Herre-Bagwell started texting how pretty the girl was and that the two should engage in sexual contact.

The complaint shows that another student interviewed by police stated that Herre-Bagwell told her she was in love with her. The complaint also states some of the alleged sexual contact took place in the suspect's classroom.

"Immediately when it occurred we got the district attorney's office involved. Children youth and family services was involved. We are very satisfied with the D.A.'s outcome and that they did find criminal charges," Superintendent of Schools Dr. Cynthia Chelan said.

Ashley Herre-Bagwell was booked into custody and later released on $7,500 bail.