Glen Burnie, MARYLAND

How does a teacher have a yearlong sexual relationship with a student and no one notices?

Mar 22, 2007 - Jeffrey Thompson, 37, a Glen Burnie High School band director, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor, under an agreement that says prosecutors will not seek more than 18 months in jail when he is sentenced in May.

The yearlong sexual relationship with the student began in May 2003 when she was 16. Thompson resigned last July, as this and allegations by another student were coming to light.

He is expected to plead guilty next week to molesting the second student. Police alleged that Thompson gave that student Gatorade mixed with vodka in the college dorm, and after she laid down because she felt dizzy, molested her.
Full Name: Jeffrey Stephen Thompson

Update Mar 24 - Thompson pleaded guilty to child abuse, stemming from a two-year relationship — from 2003 to 2005 — with a 16-year-old student.

Thompson will be sentenced May 15. His attorney said Thompson would plead guilty in the second case as well.

TT - you won't believe how the attorney characterized the relationship.

Update May 15 - The judge imposed a six-year sentence, suspending all but the 18 months and three years of supervised probation.

In a statement read to Judge Joseph P. Manck, the teenager said she has been ostracized by people loyal to Thompson since filing the charges against him...

Thompson "exploited my vulnerability, taking advantage of my naivete, faith in the goodness of people, and my blind trust of him. I made mistakes, but I was young and learning; it was his job to know better," she said. She said he ensured her that her parents trusted him, later helping her lie to cover her whereabouts.

Thompson gave up his teaching certificate in March of this year.

He will be sentenced May 31 in Baltimore County, where he has pleaded guilty to a second count of sexual abuse of a minor whom he molested at band camp in 2004 at Towson University after he gave her Gatorade mixed with vodka.

May 16 - Prosecutors have agreed that his Baltimore County sentence will be served concurrently with his Anne Arundel County sentence.

The victim gave a statement. "I lived a secret life for almost three years," the victim said in court, noting how she took her first pregnancy test alone in a Wal-Mart bathroom. "I missed out on the last years of my childhood and my transition to adulthood. As my teacher at a troubled and tumultuous time in my life, Mr. Thompson had a wonderful opportunity to encourage my growth."

Instead, he abused his position and exploited my vulnerability, taking advantage of my naivete, faith in the goodness of people and my blind trust in him."

Thompson was married at the time of these incidents. His wife, however, was granted a divorce in 2005, according to court records.