Teacher and cheerleading coach who had sex with three male students gets NO jail time...but has to register as sex offender for 25 YEARS



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A former teacher and cheerleading coach from Kansas who had admitted to having sex with three male students was placed on a 32-month probation on Friday as part of a plea deal.

Michelle Preston, aged 28, of Lenexa, Kansas, will have to serve the 32 months in prison if she violates the conditions of her three-year probation term but she will not be jailed despite the sex offences.



Preston, who is married and has an infant daughter, also will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years, according to the Kansas City Star .



Sentenced: Michelle Preston received a 32-month probation after pleading guilty to having sex with three male students

‘It’s an awful long time. She is paying a very high price for very bad judgment,’ her attorney, Scott Toth, said after Friday’s hearing in Johnson County District Court.

Preston showed no emotion as the judge imposed sentence and made no public comments afterward, Fox 4 has reported.

Preston taught psychology and world geography, and coached cheerleading at Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park before she was suspended after the allegations surfaced in 2011.

Michelle Preston pleaded guilty to having sex with three male students

In April of this year, she pleaded guilty to three felony counts of having unlawful sexual relations with students. Two of them were 17 years old and one was 18 when the encounters took place at Preston’s home, where officials later discovered semen from one of the teenagers on a sofa cushion.



According to the prosecution, Preston had sex 15 times with the students from September of 2010 through December of 2010. She had reportedly initiated all three relationships through Facebook.



Naked photos of Preston were said to have been circulated by the students after the details of the affairs emerged.

Although the students were over the age of consent, which is 16 in Kansas, Preston was prosecuted under a law governing teachers and their students. However, prosecutors did not oppose probation for Preston primarily because of the victims’ ages, said Assistant District Attorney Keith Henderson. Home: Police searched Preston's home after obtaining a warrant when they were told about the allegations Johnson County District Judge Thomas Bornholdt noted that Preston’s psychological evaluation ‘clearly states that she is not a pedophile.’ Although Preston needs mental health counseling, she poses no risk to the community or to children, her attorney said after the hearing. Preston also has been dealing with physical problems stemming from serious injuries she suffered in March of 2011 when she drove her SUV off a bridge. According to a Department of Education official, Preston’s teaching license will be revoked because of her conviction, and it is unlikely that it will ever be reinstated.

Dismissed: Preston taught geography and psychology at Shawnee Mission West High School and was the cheerleading coach Both the defense and prosecution emphasized that had Preston been a man facing the same charges, she would not have been treated any differently.

Preston is entitled to make a request to have her record wiped clean once she completes her probation. If that occurs, it is unclear now whether she must remain a registered sex offender for the full 25 years or not.



