As former Nashoba Regional High School teacher Dorothy Bancroft Veracka stood in Clinton District Court Monday, a prosecutor began to read a statement from the parents of a teen boy.

“She is sick,” the family wrote.

Veracka, 42, of Clinton, pleaded guilty to a charge of distributing obscene matter to a minor in Clinton District Court Monday. Charges of possessing child pornography and posing or exhibiting a child in the state of nudity were dismissed.

The former teacher, who was fired as the case unfolded in court, admitted to sending five nude or partially nude photographs to a 15-year-old boy who she taught at the school in Bolton.

Veracka was sentenced to serve 2-and-a-half years in jail with the sentence suspended for two years with probation.

A mother of three children, Veracka must register with the state as a sex offender, undergo mental health treatment and cannot have unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16. She cannot have any contact with the victim.

The teacher, who was fired sometime after she was arraigned in Clinton District Court in October, sent nude photos of herself to a 15-year-old student between September 2018 and March 2019, according to court records.

Assistant District Attorney Paige Barton said the photographs sent to the teen were found on her cell phone. She admitted to sending the photos, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Frank McNamara said the actions of his client were poor decisions fueled by alcohol, late-night messaging and compulsive behavior. He noted there was no physical contact between Veracka and the student.

The teen’s family said in their statement that Veracka used their son for her own sexual pleasure and wondered if her actions would have escalated. They called her actions “reprehensible” and talked about the sexual conversations the former teacher had with their child.

The boy also told police that Veracka actively solicited nude photos from him. The teen sent one photo and then stopped.

“He stopped it, not her,” the family said.

“No adult in their right mind would ever think of doing such a thing,” the family added in the statement.

Veracka, the family said, should never be able to work with children and broke a trust between teachers and students.

McNamara said his clients sent photos over a three-week period.

While ordering no unsupervised contact with children under 16, Judge Dennis Sargent also added a stipulation that allowed Veracka to go to her children’s schools if they are taking part in an event.

Search warrant affidavits filed by police show a person who knew about the photos notified the high school’s principal, Paul Di Domenico, in June 2019 and he told the person he would investigate the incident.

Di Domenico was placed on paid administrative leave after Veracka’s arraignment in court, but Nashoba Regional School District Superintendent Brooke Clenchy stressed the move was not a disciplinary action but instead to prevent distractions during an external review on what happened during the months of July and August in connection with the Veracka case.

“The safety and security of every student in the Nashoba Regional School District is always our first priority. The District’s external investigation of this matter is approaching completion, at which time the School Committee will review the findings and take further action as needed,” Clenchy wrote in a statement to MassLive. “Nashoba Regional High School Principal Paul Di Domenico continues to be on paid administrative leave.”

In November, the school committee voted to hire attorney Tim Norris, of Norris, Murray and Peloquin, to conduct an investigation into the “discrepancy between our investigation report and what was in the police report.”

Norris sent a letter in January notifying the Nashoba Regional School Committee that the gathering phase of the investigation was complete and a report was being drafted.

He then said in a February 12 letter that he was creating a written report to present his findings to the school committee. Based on a review of agendas, it is unclear if that report has been presented since that letter was sent.

A woman walked into the Bolton Police Department three months after the school’s principal was alerted to the photos, according to search warrants filed in Clinton District Court.

The woman spoke to investigations on Sept. 20. The woman, whose name is redacted in copies of the search warrants obtained by MassLive, told officers that a teacher at Nashoba Regional High School had sent “inappropriate photos” to a juvenile.

The woman had learned Veracka was still working at the school and decided to speak with police, according to search warrant affidavits filed in court by Lancaster Police Sgt. Patrick Mortimer.

The woman learned about the photos from another female who was friends with a boy at the school. The teenage boy showed his female friend nude photos of a woman and “made her believe that the woman in the photos was Veracka,” according to the affidavits.

The boy was a student at the school, located in Bolton, when Veracka sent him the photographs.

Investigators spoke to a witness who said Veracka was known “as the teacher who was a little too comfortable with students,” Mortimer wrote in affidavits.

The teenage boy told a friend that Veracka sent him nude photos of herself, authorities said. The photos were sent through Snapchat.

Investigators then spoke to the teen’s mother. Detectives from Bolton and Lancaster were involved in the case.

Investigators obtained the Snapchat user names for the teen and Veracka and interviewed the teen.

The teen told investigators he had an “inappropriate relationship” with his math teacher and identified the teacher as Veracka, records state. He said Veracka had told him she was frustrated with her relationship with her husband.

The teen and the teacher stayed in contact via phone calls, text messages, email and Snapchat, the teen told police.

“He stated that Veracka private messaged him on a school-based Classroom application called Google Classroom,” search warrant affidavits said.

During one conversation on a Google platform used by teachers and students, Veracka asked the student why he didn’t add her on Snapchat. The teacher, the teen told investigators, didn’t want to talk on the Google Classroom platform because it was monitored by school administration.

Authorities said the teen told them that Veracka would touch him on the shoulder and “say things to him that an adult should not say to a student."

The teen believed Veracka sent the first inappropriate photo of herself in her underwear to him in January 2019. She then began sending nude photos to the teen and during one conversation called herself a “bad girl” and said she knew what she was doing was wrong, the search warrant affidavits said.

Veracka, according to police, asked the teen for nude photos and he did send some.

The teen took screenshots of the photos the teacher sent to him. Lancaster police obtained the screenshots from Snapchat.

Lancaster police spoke to Veracka on Sept. 30 around 5:50 p.m. when she went to the station. Veracka, according to police, said she did speak with the teen on Google Classroom.

She admitted to asking the teen why he didn’t add her on Snapchat and that she wanted to talk through that app because Google Classroom is monitored, Mortimer wrote.