Florida Teacher Gets 38 Years Prison - Update

(Tampa, Florida)

With tears streaming down her face, teacher of the year Ethel Anderson told the judge she was not a sexual predator.

"I am ashamed and embarrassed to be standing in this courtroom and I keep telling myself this is not my life," Anderson said.

The mother of one told the judge she realizes now her life does have a purpose: to raise her daughter and to be grateful for everything she has.

"I share all this with you judge, in the hope that there is something you see in me, that I'm worthy of mercy," Anderson said.

It seems the judge didn't see something in Anderson and sentenced her to 38 years in prison.

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Florida Teacher Guilty of Molesting Boy, 12 - Update
[Previous 9/19/13 post]
(Tampa, Florida)

A jury Wednesday found a former elementary school teacher from Riverview guilty of molesting a student, deciding that award-winning educator Ethel Anderson lured a 12-year-old boy into a tortured sexual affair conducted at her home during tutoring sessions.

After deliberating for about two hours, jurors found Anderson, 31, guilty on nine sex-crime charges, including lewd and lascivious battery and lewd and lascivious molestation. All nine counts carry prison sentences of up to 15 years, meaning that Anderson, mother of a 6-year-old daughter, could potentially spend decades behind bars.

Anderson's three-day trial bore the stamp of the digital age, as prosecutors presented more than 230 pages of text messages between her and the victim. Along with a secretly taped confession to the victim's mother, those texts — by turns steamy, needy and manipulative — formed a compelling and finally inescapable body of evidence.

A sentencing date is scheduled for November 5.

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Florida Teacher and Boy, 12
[Previous 3/2/12 post]
(Tampa, Florida) A 29-year-old fifth-grade teacher at Mango Elementary School and former Teacher of the Year, Ethel Anderson, has been accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy.

Anderson faces counts of lewd battery and lewd or lascivious molestation.

The relationship with the boy occurred between December 2011 and this month, deputies said.

The boy's mother alerted authorities that she suspected a relationship between her son and Anderson, who is known to the family, deputies said.

Anderson and the suspect engaged in sex acts at her home over the three-month period, deputies said.

Anderson was booked into custody. No word on bond.