(female) Teacher penalized for having sex with (male) student

Waco Tribune-Herald ^ | Aug 1, 2002 | Tommy Witherspoon

[ValerieUSA]

A former Waco High School math teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 16-year-old student was placed on deferred probation for 10 years Wednesday.

Amber Leigh Wolfshohl, 26, wiped away tears as the boy's mother told her in a brief victim impact address that she would never be able to forgive her for what she did to her son.

"I sent my son to school to learn and to be educated, not victimized," the boy's mother told Wolfshohl. "You stole his youth, you stole his self-esteem and betrayed his trust. My son needed a teacher. How would you like this to happen to one of your kids?"

In deferred probation cases, there is no final judgment of guilt if the defendant successfully completes the terms of probation. However, Wolfshohl, who has since married and is expecting a baby in less than a month, will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.

Judge George Allen of 54th State District Court also ordered Wolfshohl to surrender her state teaching certificate, which Wolfshohl's attorney, Gina Parker, said she had already done.

"Amber has been very cooperative and has been very remorseful," Parker said after sentencing. "She is certainly willing to abide by the terms of probation, which are very intensive in sex offender cases."

Besides having to register as a sex offender, Parker said that Wolfshohl, at least initially, won't be able to drop her own child off at day care because of restrictions that prevent her from being around children other than her own. She also will have to attend regular sex offender counseling sessions, Parker said.

Prosecutor Beth Toben, who recommended deferred probation in a plea bargain, said she is glad the case could be resolved before the beginning of the new school year.

"These are really difficult cases to deal with and to determine what the right thing to do is," Toben said. "It is just really sad when something like this happens inside the school system because I think it doesn't just affect the victim; it affects all the students in the school and the institution."

In a statement to Waco school police in May 2001, Wolfshohl, who told at least four students that she had sex with the boy at her apartment in January 2001, attributed her behavior to personal problems, including a recent breakup with her boyfriend of two years.

"Throughout the past school year, I have worked very hard to build a rapport with my students and help them in any way possible," she wrote in her confession. "Many of them had very bad home lives and I would try my best to help them at school, as well as at home, if necessary. This relationship with my students became out of control during the early spring."

Wolfshohl allowed several students to visit her apartment to watch movies or to swim, according to court records. She drove at least two students to school on a regular basis and told investigators that she covered for students and allowed them to drive her Jeep while they cut classes.

[ValerieUSA]

My 18 yr recent graduate of Waco High says she is a nice-looking young woman.

She let kids drive her Jeep, but when some were caught dring school hours in it, she reported it stolen. That began the investigation into her "relationships" with students.

[martin_fierro]

Wrong teacher. MY BAD!!! Please remove my bonehead post.

[wimpycat]

(female) Teacher penalized for having sex with (male) student

If the genders were reversed, Mr. Witherspoon would have written as the title:

TEACHER CONVICTED OF MOLESTING STUDENT

Which is what she did, no matter how 'consensual' it may have been.

[Corin Stormhands]

I sent my son to school to learn and to be educated, not victimized," the boy's mother told Wolfshohl. "You stole his youth, you stole his self-esteem and betrayed his trust.

I have mixed emotions regarding the mom's statement. Yes, what the teacher did was absolutely wrong.

But I find it really difficult to believe that a normal 16-year-old boy would feel like a "victim" if this happened to him. As for his self-esteem, how many of us doubt that the first thing he did was run to tell his buddies...

[Corin Stormhands]

Let me add, if that was my son, I'd be furious, but with both the teacher and the kid...

[ValerieUSA]

Apparently he didn't have to brag to his buddies - she was doing the bragging to students about the "affair."

He may have been one of the students caught off campus driving her Jeep with her permission whom she then falsely accused of stealing it. That would be victimization.
However, you're right --- his parents (or parent) ought to be FURIOUS with him, too. Where were they when junior was partying in teacher's apartment?
It was her job to teach math - their job to teach right from wrong.

[aShepard]

This kid could be elated that he got to carve the first nick into his bedpost!

[Servant of the Nine]

Pictures, Val. We need pictures

SO9

[CholeraJoe]

If the teacher had been male and the student female, the offender would have gone to prison. Where is the equity?

[Moleman]

If the teacher had been male and the student female, the offender would have gone to prison. Where is the equity?
Just think if the teacher was a white male and the girl a "minority" student!!
The teacher would be hung- well so to speak

[liberallarry]

"I sent my son to school to learn and to be educated, not victimized," the boy's mother told Wolfshohl

What an idiot.

[macamadamia]

I agree with you. I’ll take heat for this and say that it is a sign of the times that we have difficultly seeing that this is seduction, however inappropriate. Sex (coitus, that is) between an adult female and an under-age male is fundamentally different than that between an under-age female and an adult male. It’s wrong to look for “equity” or equivalency and wrong to apply the appropriately harsh vocabulary used in rape cases (i.e. words like victim, force, abuse, emotional scars, etc.) to cases like this. For example, I just can’t see how a male can be “forced” to have an erection and perform normal intercourse. And by extension (no pun intended) he must be consenting and surely to some degree enjoying the occasion. There are, of course, exceptions, sexual acts that don’t involve normal intercourse (I’ll leave these to your imagination) where it’s accurate to use words like “force” and “victimizing” and “scarring.” But regarding cases where sex between an adult female and an under-age male is coital, I see this simply as seduction. Don’t get me wrong, the kid did something stupid and the teacher, of course, should be punished, but I certainly wouldn’t define this as rape.

[lilylangtree]

We teach our kids to control their hormones. Why can't the teachers control their hormonal activity? I have serious problems reading about these adults in responsible positions giving way to the call of their lusts. Yech!

[gcruse]

I take it you would not define consensual sex between a 25 year old male and a 12-year old girl as rape.

[macamadamia]

I would define that as rape. Establishing that the act was "consensual" seems to me to be a practical impossibility. But when the under-age person is a male and he is, frankly, engaging in coital sex, I think it must imply some degree of consent. However, I don't at all think it is appropriate for an adult female to have sex with an under-age male and I'm not at all arguing that it should not be illegal; I simply don't think that sex between an adult female and an under-age male is perfectly parallel to sex between an adult male and an under-age female.

[gcruse]

 I simply don't think that sex between an adult female and
an under-age male is perfectly parallel to sex between an
adult male and an under-age female.

Obviously, the courts don't either.  As for
the logic of it all, it passes me by.

[macamadamia]

I don’t pretend to know what the courts think. I’m saying that it is a triumph of feminism when we pretend that males and females are exactly alike. You’re suggesting that I’m supporting a double-standard. Well…yes. Men and women have different plumbing. A man CANNOT have coital sex if he is completely unwilling. A woman CAN have coital sex if she is completely unwilling—this is called rape. The former is called biology—a man revolted by a woman, rejecting her advances, fighting her off will not react by having an erection and engaging in coitus.

[gcruse]

I don’t pretend to know what the courts think.

What the courts think is reflected in the
sentences they hand down:  probation
for female rapists, hard time for males.

 You’re suggesting that I’m supporting a double-standard.

If you call consensual sex between adults and
children rape depending on what their respective
genders are, then I'd say there was a double
standard.

[macamadamia]

“If you call consensual sex between adults and children rape…”

When did I ever say that?! It is self-contradicting. I would never call sex between an adult male and under-age female “consensual” because to establish the under-age female’s consent is way too problematic and if you cannot establish consent then how can it be anything but rape. Not so with the scenario in which an adult female has coital sex with a minor. An under-age male must be consenting to coitus if he is engaging in coitus. Does that make it right? NO. Is it rape? NO. I still see it as seduction.

Also, I already admitted a double standard. I’m not hiding a double standard.