Former Teacher Gets 6 Years for Sex With Students(Orange County)

[RedEarth]

January 7, 2006

By Sara Lin, Times Staff Writer

A former Orange middle school teacher who had sex with three students was sentenced Friday to six years in prison as her attorney painted the boys as willing participants who looked at pornography and bought condoms to prepare for the encounters.

Sarah Bench-Salorio, 29, a former Santiago Charter Middle School teacher and the wife of a one-time school board candidate, pleaded guilty in September to 29 counts of lewd conduct. She received the maximum sentence and must register as a sex offender.

........

Deputy Dist. Atty. John F. Christl portrayed the former teacher as a manipulative adult who abused her students' trust: "I do not subscribe to the locker-room science where a boy should feel privileged to be molested by someone twice his age."


Bench-Salorio met her first victim in May 2003. He was a 12-year-old fifth-grader at Panorama Elementary School in north Tustin, where she taught before transferring to Santiago. Prosecutors said she had sex with him over the next 16 months. Through him, she met a 13-year-old, whom she molested in the summer of 2004. She had sex with a third boy, a 13-year-old seventh-grader in her class at Santiago. She was arrested the day after he contacted police in January 2005.

http://www.latimes.com/news/yahoo/la-me-teacher7jan07,1,7468860.story?coll=la-newsaol-headlines

and one more in California........

Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to 2 Charges of Molestation

Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to 2 Charges of Molestation
From Associated Press

January 7, 2006

BAKERSFIELD — A seventh-grade teacher initially accused of lewd acts with a 12-year-old boy has pleaded not guilty to lesser charges.

Sherry Brians, 41, hugged and kissed the boy at Buttonwillow School several times, authorities said.

Brians pleaded not guilty Thursday in Kern County Superior Court to two misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18. If convicted, she faces a maximum fine of $1,000, one year in jail or both.

The boy's parents told authorities that they found a letter in their son's backpack that indicated the two had a romantic and physical relationship, said Sgt. Richard Wood of the Sheriff's Department.

http://www.latimes.com/news/yahoo/la-me-buttonwillow7jan07,1,3277285,print.story?coll=la-newsaol-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true