For those of you who don’t have the pleasure of residing in Western North Carolina, I occasionally offer some of our juicier news tidbits for your delectation. Okay, maybe Master Rick and Dungeon Dan weren’t exactly delectable. But willing castration can’t be beat for an interesting blog topic.
This week we have another case of a hardened criminal arrested for felonious deeds: Heather Shelton, 22, a teacher’s assistant at North Buncombe High School, was arrested for having sexual relations with an 18-year-old student. He wasn’t one of her students, and, in fact, they didn’t meet at the school.
Here in NC, it’s illegal for a teacher to fornicate with a student, regardless of their ages, as it’s considered abuse of the authoritarian relationship (o, unless they’re married–to each other, I assume). Cohabitation between a male and a female outside of marriage is also illegal.
Okay, I can respect the abuse of the teacher-student relationship part. I was a teacher. A young teacher. In fact, I started teaching at 22. And it was terrifying and difficult and confusing. And I had a relationship with another teacher, which was not illegal, though it probably was a bit questionable ethically. But that’s not really relevant here.
What is relevant is that Heather Shelton made a mistake. She gave in to raging hormones with a guy she met somewhere, outside of work, who happened to attend the school where she worked. After visiting her My Space site, I realized that she’s not exactly the sharpest knife in the block, which she, in fact, admits (she says she’s dumber than Jessica Simpson).
Heather also, clearly, doesn’t have great taste in men, as the 18-year-old she was playing hide the salami with went on our local TV news and bragged about his prowess.
But, come on, don’t the cops, don’t our court systems, have better things to do with their time and money than sentence a 22-year-old to up to four years in prison for fooling around? Yes, slap her on the hand. Scare her a bit. She’s already been fired from her job, and, given her sudden noteriety, may have a hard time finding another. But don’t throw her in prison. And go re-write that law. And the other dumb ones hanging around waiting to be abused.
As usual, Ash has covered the story in full. As has our local newspaper.
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I know very few 18 year old guys who wouldn’t be trying to sleep with a reasonably attractive young teacher.
Hell, I know very few _____ (fill in age) year old guys who wouldn’t be trying to sleep with a reasonably attractive young _________ (fill in the profession)!
She gets 4 years for being dumb? Let’s bring back debtor’s prison.
Some of the national news wire versions of this story list the boy’s age as 19 rather than 18, which sorta begs the question…
…planning to graduate any time soon, bub?
North Buncombe County, NC in general never has attracted flocks of the best and brightest. So in her defense, shagging a high school schmo may well have been young Ms. Shelton’s best shot at acquiring a mate still in possession of his original tooth.
-A
All those hidden laws scare the hell out of me. Who would have thought an 18 year old could get you jail time?
I have yet to see the moral question here if the fellow wasn’t her student and was over the age of consent. I don’t care how old a student is, I think it’s wrong for a teacher to sleep with his or her student, period. But somebody else’s student when the fellow is a legal adult? What am I missing here?