Woman Coach Jailed For Sex With Fla. Students Ordered Freed

local6.com (WKMG-TV) ^ | November 18, 2003 | AP

[L.N. Smithee]

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- A high school assistant coach sentenced in March to three years for having sex with two students was ordered released on time served Monday.

Jennifer Joy Brooks, 28, will still not be allowed to coach, teach or have any contact with minors and will serve seven years of sex offender probation. She also must undergo psychological treatment, cannot get involved romantically with anyone who has children and cannot have contact with the victims.

Brooks had been held after pleading no contest to unlawful sexual activity and committing a lewd and lascivious act. The victims were on the girls' varsity basketball and softball teams at Charlotte High, where Brooks was an assistant coach during the 1999-2000 school year.

Thomas Marryott, Brooks' lawyer, argued in a sentence reduction hearing last week that Brooks should be released because the victims never wanted her jailed. But the father of one the victims said during that hearing he believed the only way to continue to ensure his daughter's safety is to keep Brooks behind bars.

"I really do not believe Jenny is a threat in any way or any kind," Brooks' father, the Rev. Sam Brooks, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for its Tuesday editions.

Prosecutor John L. Burns said he was disappointed by Circuit Judge Isaac Anderson Jr.'s decision. Burns said Brooks freely and voluntarily accepted the prison deal on second-degree felonies that could have put her in prison for up to 30 years.

Brooks had not been released as of late Monday, according to jail officials.

---

---

For background on the story, here is an account from SexCriminals.com:

Former school coach pleads no contest to sex with students

Gainesville Sun
February 28, 2003

A former Charlotte High School assistant coach charged with having sex with two student athletes made a plea agreement that will put her in prison for three years.

Jennifer Joy Brooks, 27, pleaded no contest Thursday to unlawful sexual activity and committing a lewd and lascivious act.

She remains free on $10,000 bail until sentencing on March 25.

The Port Charlotte woman would have faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted at a trial. The victims were on the girls' varsity basketball and softball teams at Charlotte High, where Brooks worked as an assistant coach during the 1999-2000 school year.

As part of the plea agreement, Brooks must also spend seven years on sex offender probation. She will not be allowed to coach, teach or have any contact with minors. She also must undergo psychological treatment, cannot get involved romantically with anyone who has children and will be subject to random searches.

She and Brooks became friends and started attending church together in November 1999, according to Charlotte County sheriff's reports. The relationship became sexual shortly after the girl's 15th birthday in January 2000, and continued into the next year.

Detectives learned about the second victim during the investigation into claims by the first girl. That sexual affair, with a 17-year-old, began in April 2000, the reports state.

One of the victims wrote a letter to Judge Sherra Winesett on Wednesday asking that Brooks not be sent to prison. State prosecutor John Burns said the other victim's wishes were similar.

"Neither wanted her to go to prison; we took that into account," Burns said. "The unfortunate thing is that she took advantage of her position of trust. That's what makes this so egregious."

[Kuksool]

***Do you think that if it were a MALE teacher and a 15-year-old GIRL that the paper would have said "The relationship became sexual..."?***

Nope. A double standard definitely exists. For cases involving male teachers, the headlines call their episodoes as "child rape" or "sex abuse". For female teachers, it usually referred to as "an affiar" or "sexual relations".

[kimoajax]

If she were blonde she could be a twin of an x attorney of mine.

[cajun-jack]

at the risk of getting flamed to death...didn't whoever hired her tend to think her "gate" might swing both ways at the least or swing left at the most...

but yet, can't discriminate against c

---

s and carpet munchers...tht would be just p;lain wrong

people need to wake up and drive these deviates back into the closet.

[RightWingAtheist]

Those are women? Looks to me more like medical photos documentating the progression of acromegaly in ungulates.

[KantianBurke]

"Ah I could kill BOTH of'em and be back in Rivendell faster than you can say the word hobbit."

[EllaMinnow]

You can't distract me. I give my fealty to the elf prince.

[B-Chan]

Hey! That's Patrick Swayze!

[PLMerite]

"Wonder what kind of church they went to."

One where only half of the congregation is kneeling at any given time.


Sorry.

[PLMerite]

Well, I've been out with women who would be considered less attractive than that. But they were straight, of course. Well, most of 'em.

[Politicalmom]

Which one?? :)

[BurbankKarl]

she will be back to this lickety-split.

doh!

[LibertarianInExile]

Same situation here. I knew if they weren't straight, though--all the ones who wouldn't put out weren't straight. They HAD to be lesbians not to want a piece of this hunka-hunka burnin' love.

[BenLurkin]

Better hope this doesn't get pinged to the folks over at the Hobbit Hole. . . . 8^)

[Syncro]

I thought it was a menopausal thingy, until I saw she is in her twenties.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Better hope this doesn't get pinged to the folks over at the Hobbit Hole. . . .

Apparently, it was somebody's hobbit hole that was the whole problem, when you get right down to it... :)

[tracer]

Not as imprudent as getting caught, though....

[MHGinTN]

Many homosexuals are predators, seeking to slake their sexual frenzy with the vulnerable because their homosexual deviancy drives their lives.

[Protagoras]

A man would be up the creek for a long long time.

[L.N. Smithee]

Wonder what kind of church they went to.

I shudder to think that it was the church where her father is serving as the reverend. That would make his statement that she was not a danger to anyone inexcusable.

[ArrogantBustard]

The third "S" is of the utmost importance.