Linda Martz

Reporter

Editor's Note: Due to an editing error, an earlier version misstated the length of the teacher-student involvement.

MANSFIELD­ - The mother of a 17-year-old boy said she's satisfied by the plea bargain former Mansfield Choice Academies teacher Noelle Devlin agreed to Wednesday on charges related to sexual involvement with her son.

Neither the boy, then 16, nor a 13-year-old girl with close connections to the defendant who became aware of the relationship, will be asked to testify now, the mother said.

"I didn't want this to go to trial," she said. "I don't want to put either one of them on the stand."

Devlin, 31, pleaded guilty Wednesday in front of Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese to three counts of sexual battery and three counts of child endangering. The sexual relationship reportedly happened Oct.1-June 5 last year..

Sexual battery is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years of prison and a $30,000 fine, based on three counts. Three counts of child endangering, a first-degree misdemeanor, could result in six months in jail on each count, and $3,000 total fine for three counts, DeWeese said.

Prosecutors dismissed 12 additional counts of sexual battery and as many counts of child endangering, saying the state was willing to consolidate counts initially charged across three counties.

Devlin taught in Richland County, lived in Knox County, where her father had a home, and spent time in Crawford County, according to boy's family.

DeWeese told the defendant Wednesday that a guilty plea on sexual battery counts would mean she is required to register as a Tier III sex offender for the rest of her life, checking in every 90 days or whenever she moves.

Sentencing is set for April 25.

"We'll deal with whatever (sentence) is given," the mother of the 17-year-old said.

While she didn't count Devlin as a friend, she said, she believed she was an effective teacher, and consoled Devlin after her father died of cancer.

"I trusted this woman. I trusted her wholeheartedly," she said.

The boy's mother said she believed the teacher was spending extra time mentoring her son, giving him responsibilities to help her in the classroom and outside of it with tasks like moving books and helping with community service projects off-site, such as a community garden.

She believed her son had gotten involved in a relationship with a girl his own age, she said.

She eventually learned of a "fake" Facebook page Devlin allegedly set up. It did not show any faces, but named her son and made public statements she was "engaged" to him. She and others looked at images of two hands shown on the Facebook page, and thought the female hand looked like it belonged to someone older than a teenager.

The mother of the victim said her husband, who does repossessions, traced that Facebook page back to Devlin, and the family took their concerns to the school.

A 13-year-old girl who is related to Devlin became aware of the relationship, the mother said.

"She knew they were together," she said, adding the teenager must have been torn by the need to keep the relationship secret, and later by the criminal charges.

Her son is doing "not good," she said.

"He has changed a lot. He does give me issues, and he's given the school issues," she said.

The 17-year-old has been angry with Devlin after she reportedly posted on social media that she shouldn't be fired from her teaching job for one mistake.

"He's done with it now," the mother said. "She called him a 'mistake.'"

The woman said she feels badly for the teenage girl who witnessed the relationship and had to remain silent about it.

"I know she has to be hurting," she said.

The mother of the 17-year-old said she still believes Devlin was a great teacher.

"I've always given that to her," she said. "But now I have lost all respect for her.

"I can't tell other parents what to do. I trusted this woman. You want to trust teachers with your children's lives."

The victim's mother said she didn't know how she'd react Wednesday afternoon when she saw Devlin again in the courtroom, but added she kept her cool.

"It has taken everything I had to not confront her," she said.

lmartz@gannett.com

419-521-7229

Twitter: @MNJmartz