AKRON, Ohio – A former Twinsburg High School home economics teacher was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for sexually abusing a 17-year-old student in a classroom pantry.

Laura Bucy, 33, of Akron faced up to five years in prison for the third-degree felony charge of sexual battery, to which she pleaded guilty in June, Summit County Common Pleas Court records show.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross also sentenced Bucy to five years of probation and to register as a sex offender.

Twinsburg police began investigating Bucy’s relationship with the student after her ex-husband called police on Sept. 6, 2018, and told them Bucy said “she had to confess to her sins” and “she had sex with a student of hers,” according to a police report.

Investigators spoke with Bucy on Sept. 11, and she admitted to engaging in a sexual relationship with the 17-year-old boy at a time when “she felt very overwhelmed with having three kids to care for, working and attending college,” the report says.

Bucy, who had worked at the school since Aug. 2017 and resigned after her arrest, said she and the teenager “made a very strong connection” as he would come to her classroom and help her clean, according to police.

She told officers that the boy acted and looked like her ex-husband.

Bucy admitted to police that sexual abuse occurred in either February or March 2018. She said they had sex in the classroom pantry after he came to her room following lunch, police said.

She said there was one instance of sexual intercourse, and afterward, they exchanged photos and videos of themselves on Snapchat.

Bucy also told investigators she gave the boy liquid for his vaping device because she knew he liked it, and bought him $10 worth of marijuana from another student, police said.

The same day they questioned Bucy, investigators spoke with the teenager and his parents. The student confirmed Bucy’s story, except saying the sexual abuse occurred before Christmas and not in February or March, police said.

He told police he came to Bucy’s classroom to help her clean up when she came up behind him and started kissing him in the pantry, police said. The 17-year-old told police he didn’t tell anyone about the incident because he didn’t want to get his teacher in trouble.

Police learned on Sept. 12 that Bucy had flown to see her father in Arizona. A warrant was issued for her, accusing the teacher of sexual battery and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.

Bucy was arrested on Sept. 22, 2018, after she arrived at the Twinsburg Police Department. She was booked into the Summit County Jail.

Bucy’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesday’s crime and courts comment section.

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