California Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated

(Martinez, California) In October, 43-year-old teacher formerly at Moraga Middle School, Julie Gay Correa, pleaded no contest to four felony sex crimes involving offenses against a female student in the 1990s.

This week, Correa was sentenced.

After more than a decade, Correa's now 29-year-old victim, Kristen Cunnane, had come forward.

Cunnane has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and continues to work through her pain in therapy. She described to the court how Correa groomed her for the abuse with secret trips off campus, gifts and special one-on-one time before and after school.

Cunnane said that once the sexual abuse began, she was too fearful and ashamed to tell anyone about it. She felt she could not escape Correa, who would watch her high school soccer games from afar with binoculars and would pop up wherever Cunnane was around town.

Cunnane said Correa kept tabs on her via a secret cellphone that she provided and instructed her to hide in the hollowed out pages of a Spanish-English dictionary.

She would sneak into Cunnane's family home and hide in her closet, or under her bed. Correa once broke her leg while jumping out of a second-story window to avoid the girl's parents.

Correa received the maximum sentence from Judge Clare Maier, eight years in prison. Notably, it's reported that Correa continues to blame the victim for the sex abuse.

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Female Teacher and Female Student
[Previous 10/28/10 post]
(Lafayette, California) Last July, a 28-year-old woman referred to as Jane Doe contacted police with allegations that she was sexually abused by Julie Gay Correa, a Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School teacher. Jane Doe was a 12-year-old student in the 1990s when she first met Correa, then 28.

The accuser told investigators that Correa lavished her with an "unusual" amount of attention, which grew to include overnight mountain trips and love letters.

In 1996, the summer after the girl graduated from middle school, Correa began giving her daily volleyball lessons, and the relationship turned sexual, prosecutors said in court documents. At one point the girl's mother confronted Correa about the time they were spending together and demanded that she stay away.

Doe told investigators that she was coerced into staying in the relationship because Correa threatened to kill herself or Doe, threatened to "out" her as gay, and plied her with alcohol.

The sexual activity continued from the ages of 14 to 17 for the victim, who ended the relationship in 1999.

Now 42, Correa lives in Utah where she was arrested in August and returned to California. She faces six counts of lewd acts on a child ages 14 to 15, three counts of forcible oral copulation, and three counts of forcible sexual penetration.

Interestingly, Correa reportedly admitted to kissing and fondling the girl but said she was the one who was manipulated by the 14-year-old.

Correa was booked into custody and released on $1.05 million bail. She then returned to Utah. A December court appearance is scheduled.