Married female elementary school teacher, 36, gets five years in prison for performing oral sex on a girl, 15, in her home
- Married New Jersey teacher Lauren Coyle-Mitchell, 36, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday for performing oral sex on a 15-year-old girl
- In January, she pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child as her firefighter husband sat in the courtroom
- Under a plea agreement, she will be under parole supervision for rest of her life
- She must also register as a sex offender and give up her teaching license
- Mitchell was arrested in June 2015 after a colleague at a school in Lyndenhurst observed inappropriate behavior between her and the girl
- According to her indictment, she performed oral sex on the eighth-grader at least once between October 1, 2014 and June 15, 2015
Former elementary school teacher Lauren Coyle-Mitchell (pictured), 36, has been sentenced to five years in prison after she admitted to performing oral sex on a teen girl
A former elementary school teacher from New Jersey has been sentenced to five years in prison after she admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.
Lauren Coyle-Mitchell, 36, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child in January as her firefighter husband sat in the courtroom.
The married woman was sentenced on Friday for having the affair three years ago with the teenager at Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School in Jersey City.
According to the New York Post, Coyle-Mitchell will spend at least four years and three months in state prison.
In 2015, Coyle-Mitchell was teaching second grade at the K-8 grade charter school when prosecutors said she performed oral sex at her home in Lyndhurst on the eighth-grader.
Under Coyle-Mitchell’s plea agreement, she will also be under parole supervision for the rest of her life.
She will have to register as a sex offender, give up her teaching license and never seek public employment.
Coyle-Mitchell was teaching second grade at the Dr Lena Edwards Academic Charter School (pictured) in Jersey City when prosecutors said she performed oral sex on an eighth-grader
According to her indictment, Coyle-Mitchell performed oral sex on the girl at least once between October 1, 2014 and June 15, 2015. She was arrested in June and following her arrest, Coyle-Mitchell took to social media to try and clear her name in a Facebook post (above)
According to her indictment, Coyle-Mitchell performed oral sex on the girl at least once between October 1, 2014 and June 15, 2015.
The two also allegedly had explicit conversations over text and email.
She was arrested in June 2015 after staff at the school observed what they considered to be inappropriate behavior between Coyle-Mitchell and the female student during a class trip to Washington, DC.
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Following her June arrest, Coyle-Mitchell attempted to clear her name on Facebook.
'Tragic accusations have been brought up against me. They are not true, and my name will be cleared,' she wrote.
The teacher was arrested again just a month later on contempt of court charges after she allegedly violated her bail conditions and contacted the victim.
Under Coyle-Mitchell’s plea agreement, she will be under parole supervision for the rest of her life. She will also have to register as a sex offender, give up her teaching license and never seek public employment
Prosecutors said the girl received two telephone calls from a restricted number, as well as a one-word text message in which the sender used Mitchell's 'pet name' for the girl.
Investigators then discovered Mitchell had researched how to restrict her number while making a phone call and had downloaded an application that would allow her to do so.
The girl did not answer either of the phone calls or the text message.
Coyle-Mitchell's attorney argued at the time that she was merely a mentor to the eighth-grader and said she was suffering from an anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
During her guilty plea in January, Coyle-Mitchell told the court that the relationship was 'emotionally and morally damaging,' according to NorthJersey.com.
He said Mitchell had a 'moment of poor judgement' when she attempted to contact the girl after her arrest and being placed on leave at the school.
Last May, the State Board of Examiners suspended Coyle-Mitchell’s teaching certificates, reported NJ.com.
