Rachel Clement, a 29-year-old former teacher, accepted a plea agreement in a Kentucky court, admitting to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse in a position of authority after sending explicit messages to a student.
The former Henderson County High School educator was dismissed and barred from the school district when officials received a report in May alleging she had been texting sexual content to a pupil.
Initially, prosecutors charged her with two counts of unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor, first-degree sexual abuse and tampering with physical evidence. After she entered a not-guilty plea in June, the charges were revised under the new deal to the two counts of first-degree sexual abuse in a position of authority, with the original first-degree abuse charge dropped, according to the Hendersonian.
Under the agreement, Clement will be prohibited from teaching anywhere in the United States for life and must remain on the national sex offender registry indefinitely. She faces up to three years in prison for each abuse count and five years for evidence tampering, with sentencing set for January 4.
The case follows other recent teacher misconduct cases, including Allison Havemann-Niedrach, 45, who received a 12-year sentence for sexual activity with a 15-year-old, and Kirsten Rose, 37, arrested on five counts of unlawful sexual activity with a child.
