Teacher in student sex case gets 10 years in prison

Published 10:20 am Tuesday, June 3, 2008

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A Washington County teacher who was convicted of enticing a former student for sex was sentenced Monday to more than 10 years in prison for the crime.

U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose sentenced Charlene Schmitz to 10 years and a month — one month above the mandatory minimum.

Prosecutors had sought a prison term of more than 15 years.

The boy’s mother and grandmother testified Monday that the teenager said he had sex with Schmitz 10 times, but DuBose said the issue was too important to base her decision on hearsay, the Press-Register reported on its Web site. Schmitz, 55, was not tried in federal court on charges of having sex with the boy, but awaits trial in state court on charges of rape and sodomy.

A jury convicted the former Leroy High School teacher in February on charges of using a computer and a cell phone to entice the then-14-year-old boy for sex.

Prosecutors said the former Leroy High School teacher obstructed justice and committed perjury during the trial, allowing and possibly encouraging her 13-year-old daughter to lie that she had impersonated her mother during instant messaging conversations with the boy.

“Ten years to a woman who is 54, 55 years of age is approaching a life sentence,” defense attorney Donald Briskman said.

There is no parole in the federal system. Schmitz will also be on supervised release for the rest of her life after her sentence is completed.

Tommy Loftis, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Mobile, said prosecutors felt the sentence is reasonable even though the judge denied their request for a longer prison term.

“We are pleased with the sentence because the family’s pleased with that sentence,” he said.