Hillsborough teacher says sexting boy was help to his education
TAMPA — Taking the stand in her own defense Tuesday, a Riverview teacher accused of sex acts with a 12-year-old student had an unforeseen explanation for hundreds of explicit text messages she sent the boy.
The texts, which described past sexual encounters and future possibilities in minute detail, were an educational tool for interesting the boy in his schoolwork and rewarding him with positive feedback, she testified.
"I recognize that it was explicit and inappropriate, but it was fantasy," said Ethel Anderson, 31, who at the time of her arrest was an award-winning instructor at Mango Elementary School. "I was trying to get his attention for the purpose of his education."
She denied ever having a real sexual relationship with the boy.
Anderson's explanation of the mass of evidence marshaled against her by prosecutors capped the second and last day of testimony in her trial in Hillsborough Circuit Court on charges including lewd and lascivious battery.
Prosecutors say Anderson performed oral sex at her home on a student she was tutoring in math. She had taught the boy when he was a first-grader, though the sex acts did not begin till he was 12, authorities say.
The jury could reach a verdict as soon as today.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/hillsborough-teacher-says-sexting-boy-was-help-to-his-education/2142466
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