A former teacher who was accused in 2018 of having sex with one of her students has pleaded no contest to a charge of sexual activity with a child.

Suzanne Owen, 36, is set to be sentenced June 24. The maximum penalty Owen could face is life in prison. She made the plea in court Monday.

Owen was a teacher at Evangelical Christian School in south Fort Myers when the Lee County Sheriff's Office arrested her last year. The student was 17 years old at the time and was in a Spanish class that Owen taught, court records show.

Owen and the student met April 4, 2018, in a parking lot at U.S. 41 and Cypress Lake Drive. Owen and the student admitted to investigators that they had intercourse on the backseat of Owen's car, according to a Sheriff's Office report.

Suzanne Owen:Read the motion to dismiss

Suzanne Owen:Read her text and email messages to student

Owen could not be reached Thursday for comment. Her attorney, Geraldo Olivo, also could not be reached.

Owen is a 2005 graduate of Free Will Baptist Bible College, now known as Welch College, in Nashville, Tennessee.

She began teaching at Evangelical Christian in 2011. She previously had taught at three Nashville schools: Christ Presbyterian Academy from 2005-06, Glendale Elementary from 2006-07 and Tulip Grove Elementary from 2007-08.

The State Attorney's Office would not discuss the case.

"We can’t discuss the case until after sentencing since it is still an open case," a spokeswoman for the office wrote in an email.

Owen and the student began exchanging messages by email and text a little more than a month before they met in the parking lot. Court records include some of the messages. The messages were about school work, a dress Owen wore and their plan to meet.

"I was hoping you would like it," Owen wrote during a text message exchange about the dress. "You are so damn distracting in class every day."

Suzanne Owen:Teacher accused of having sex with a student released on bail

Suzanne Owen:Teacher admitted she had sex with a student, according to report

Olivo asked a judge to dismiss the case against Owen before she pleaded no contest.

Owen is charged under a Florida statute that makes it illegal for a person who has "custodial authority" to have sex with someone between the ages of 12 and 17.

Olivo, citing a Florida Supreme Court case, argued in a motion the statute does not apply in the case against Owen. The case Olivio cited involved a history teacher who engaged in inappropriate physical activities with an eighth-grader while at school.

The court found that absent a statutory definition for "custodial authority" that its most common meaning — having custody or control — should be used, according to Olivo's motion.

Olivo argued that since the sexual activity between Owen and the student didn't happen at school or during a school-related event, Owen was not in the position of custodial authority over the student.

The judge denied the motion.

ECS:Evangelical Christian School teacher accused of having sex with student