An Ohio teacher who confessed to having sex with a 17-year-old student who “looked and acted” like her ex-husband has been sentenced to two years in prison, according to reports.
Laura Bucy, 34, pleaded guilty in June to sexual battery after admitting to relatives and police that she had sex with the male student at Twinsburg High School and exchanged explicit images and videos with him, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
“You have seriously injured this boy,” the teen’s father said during Bucy’s sentencing on Wednesday. “We fear he will never be the same. I hope the court sends you to prison.”
Bucy, who had faced up to five years behind bars, must also register as a Tier 3 sex offender for the rest of her life. She may be eligible for release after just six months, the newspaper reported.
Bucy, a family and consumer sciences teacher at the school, confessed to her former father-in-law in August 2018 that she had sex with the teen in a classroom pantry. Bucy’s ex-husband then contacted police a month later, according to a police report obtained by the newspaper.
“She made a very strong connection with [redacted],” the report read.
Bucy told police she also supplied the teen – who “looked and acted” like her ex-husband, according to the police report — with liquid to use in his vaping device and allowed him to use it in her office, WEWS reported.
Bucy said the encounter took place when she was feeling “very overwhelmed with having three kids to care for, working and attending college,” Cleveland.com reported.
She has since resigned, surrendered her teaching certificate and dropped out of graduate school, according to the Beacon Journal.
The teen victim, meanwhile, was so shaken by the one-time encounter with Bucy that he has yet to date anyone since that time, his mother said Wednesday.
“He’s supposed to feel safe and protected at school – and you took that away from him,” she told Bucy.
The former teacher apologized to the teen’s family, as well as her relatives and former coworkers, courtroom video obtained by the Beacon Journal shows.
“I am so sorry for the pain that I’ve caused the victim, his family, my own family and my colleagues,” Bucy said. “They all deserve better and I’m sorry that I allowed this to occur. I accept responsibility for my actions, acknowledge that I need help and will continue with my psychology therapy. I do not believe this incident is a true reflection of who I am and will never let it happen again.”