Laura Bucy, a 34-year-old former high school teacher at Twinsburg High School in Ohio, pleaded guilty to sexual battery after admitting to exchanging sexually explicit images and messages with a 17-year-old student, has been sentenced to two years in prison.
She will be eligible for early release after two months.
According to the reports, the student “looked and acted” liked Bucy’s ex-husband at the time of the incidents in question.
Bucy, who was 32 and married at the time with three children, was placed on administrative leave after the allegations first surfaced.
The teacher, who described her job as “hanging out in a room all day with hormonal teenagers who are learning to control every impulse they have while I attempt to teach them life skills” in her Twitter bio, allegedly had “sexual conduct with the victim” and sent “obscene material to a juvenile, obscene images, over social media.”
“You have seriously injured this boy,” the teen’s father told Bucy at her sentencing, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. “We fear he will never be the same. I hope the court sends you to prison.”
Bucy must register as a Tier 3 sex offender for the rest of her life.
Over the course of the past year alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including 25-year-old substitute teacher Alexis Mercedes Boberg in Baltimore, Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida. Additionally, Texas teachers Meredith Null and Edna Longoria were arrested on similar charges.
As for why the number of these incidents has seemingly increased, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
