As he prepared to send her to prison Thursday morning, Dauphin County President Judge Richard A. Lewis told former Bishop McDevitt High School teacher Randi Zurenko that she must have a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality.

The father of one of the two female students Zurenko admitted preying upon was more blunt. He called the 33-year-old Zurenko, a married mother of five who once was hailed as one of Bishop McDevitt's most inspiring teachers, a "predator."

Whichever description is true, Zurenko now has a new identity as an inmate at the county prison, where she will be spending the next 11 1/2 to 23 months.

Lewis chose that punishment, to be followed by 4 years of probation and 500 hours of community service after Zurenko, who lives in Millerstown, Perry County, begged for leniency for the sake of her children, ages 11 to 3. She had pleaded guilty to multiple charges including institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with minors, corruption of minors, possessing child pornography and disseminating obscene materials to minors.

Her lawyer, Lee Cohen, insisted that Zurenko is a good person who was truly in love with her victims. He asked Lewis to sentence Zurenko to house arrest.

"I am ashamed to be here," Zurenko told Lewis. "I have never coerced anyone. I have never taken advantage of anyone."

"I'm asking you today for grace and mercy and to take my children into consideration when you determine my sentence," she added.

Lewis said he did factor her kids into his equation. Yet he also cited the pain one victim and her parents voiced so emotionally during the 2 1/2-hour sentencing hearing.

One victim described how the abuse she endured as Zurenko manipulated her psychologically for years had led her into a pit of emotional darkness. Investigators said Zurenko once massaged that girl's back and undid her bra and also had repeatedly given her alcohol. The young woman told Lewis she fell into deep depression, became isolated from family and friends, cut herself and thought of suicide.

"You stunted my growth because I depended on you," she told Zurenko, who looked small and nervous standing before the judge. She said Zurenko's acts "slowly shattered every belief I held."

"I felt so confused and abandoned and trapped," she added. "I trusted nobody...You took everything that was mine."

"I'm still feeling the impact. I don't think it's close to over," the woman continued. "You took my innocence. You used my love."

Yet, she said, "I have no ounce of hate for you in my body."

The second victim asked Lewis to show leniency for the sake of Zurenko's children. "I kept it together. I was OK. I'm still OK," she said.

Harrisburg police said Zurenko had a sexual relationship with that victim.

The first victim's father spent 45 minutes describing his family's trauma. He called the crime "surreal" and said, "My daughter lost three years of her life" because of Zurenko's "psychological manipulation."

"You will always be a molester, a predator," he told Zurenko. "You deserve no grace, no chance at rehabilitation. You deserve no success."

"She preyed on her...being kind," his wife added. She called Zurenko "evil."

Yet both parents praised their daughter for going to police and for fighting to overcome the abuse.

"A long sentence isn't a victory. A short sentence isn't a loss for us," the mother told Lewis. "For my family, we've already won. The light has overcome the darkness."

Zurenko didn't lack supporters. Lewis noted that 15 people, including former students, wrote letters supporting her. Two of her backers spoke in court.

"No one will benefit, no one will have their pain lessened by a prison sentence," said a former colleague of Zurenko who said she too was the victim of sexual abuse.

"She did this because she was in love," said a college friend of Zurenko. "She never does anything with malice."

Cohen expanded on that theme. "This is not somebody who took advantage of somebody else. My client had real feelings for this person. She loved her," he said.

"She has been severely punished," Cohen said. "She will never teach again. She has lost that passion."

She also will have to register with state police as a sex offender for 25 years, he noted.

"The reason we're here today is because she has caused tragedy," Deputy Attorney General Megan Madaffari shot back. "When she engaged in sex acts with a 16-, 17-year-old girl perhaps she wasn't thinking of her family."

"She was supposed to be a mentor. She was an abuser," Madaffari said. "She is responsible for (leading the victims down) a path no young woman should ever have to follow."

Lewis said the case left him "troubled and puzzled."

"Your conduct can only be described as incomprehensible," the judge said. "I can only liken it to a Jekyll and Hyde situation."

"Instead of serving as a role model, ma'am, you became a villain," he said.