Jan 11, 2007 - Jillian Gehrkens, 28, a guidance intern at Newtown High School, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault after a yearlong sexual relationship 15-year-old student. She also pleaded guilty to contacting the victim despite having been ordered not to do so.
Initially free on a $25,000 bond, Gehrkens was placed under house arrest after she violated a no-contact order by meeting with the victim twice.
The plea bargain includes a nine-month sentence in state prison, 7 years in prison to be suspended after she serves the mandatory nine months, followed by 10 years of supervised probation. She will receive counseling for sex offender, and she will be placed on the state's sexual offender registry for 10 years.
She also is required to submit a DNA blood sample to serve as a reference substance for state investigations into sex crimes. HIV testing also would be done.
Gehrken has an 8-month-old daughter. Ms Gehrkens' husband and her parents attended court.
She will be sentenced March 12. (Sentencing delayed while she gave birth to a child.)
See Judge Relaxes House Arrest Rules In Sexual Assault Case
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SENTENCED August 2 -
A sobbing Jillian Gehrkens, with her wrists handcuffed behind her back, was led from a courtroom by several judicial marshals on Thursday, July 26, to a serve a nine-month prison term for her conviction on a second-degree sexual assault charge.Her husband sat with other family members in the courtroom.
A nine-month prison sentence for Ms Gehrkens for the violation of conditions of release conviction will run concurrently. After prison, she will be required to register as a sex offender for ten years.
Judge Alexander warned that that if such student-teacher relationships do not stop in the broader society, the state legislature would take action to increase the minimum mandatory prison terms for convictions in such second-degree sexual assault cases.
