Carolina Teacher Gets Prison for Child Sex Pics - Update

(Asheville, North Carolina) Yesterday, 45-year-old former special-education teacher at The Mountain Community School, Deborah Lee Tipton, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for conviction on child pornography charges involving an 11-year-old girl.

Last year Tipton, who had worked at the school from 2005 until her arrest, pleaded guilty to possessing and transporting child pornography.

As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of production of child porn.[…]

Deputies said the crimes didn’t take place on school property, and investigators don’t believe there are additional victims.

The school's principal, Chadwick Hamby, 42, was also implicated in the crime and received four years in prison. He cooperated with the prosecution and testified against Tipton.

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Carolina Teacher Guilty of Child Sex Pics - Update
[Previous 9/20/12 post]
(Asheville, North Carolina) Former Mountain Community School teacher Deborah Lee Tipton pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Asheville to child pornography charges.

Under the terms of Tipton's plea agreement, a count of sexual exploitation of children, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison, was dismissed.

Tipton pleaded guilty to count two, which states that she transported sexually explicit images of a child over the Internet, and to count three, which says she possessed material depicting a minor engaged in sexual conduct.

Tipton faces 30 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if punished to the maximum. Additional penalties include forfeiture of her home and registration as a sex offender. A sentencing date has not been established.

Note that Tipton also faces related charges in state court.

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Carolina Teacher Accused of Exploitation
[Previous 2/22/12 post]
(Hendersonville, North Carolina) A 45-year-old special ed and math teacher at Mountain Community School, Deborah Lee Tipton, has been accused of sexually exploiting a 12-year-old girl.

Tipton faces a charge of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

An arrest warrant says Tipton videotaped a girl's genitalia and then disseminated the video “for the purpose of producing material containing a visual representation depicting this activity, the defendant knowing the character and content of the performance and material.”

The date of the offense occurred between Aug. 1 and Feb. 21.

Tipton was booked into custody with bond set at $50,000.