Arizona teacher who had sex with 13-year-old student breaks down as she gets maximum sentence of 20 years in jail
An Arizona teacher who pleaded guilty to sending her 13-year-old student sexually explicit messages, including nudes, and also having sex with him on numerous occasions — in her car, in the classroom, and even at the victim's grandparents' home — has been sentenced to two decades behind bars.
We previously reported that 28-year-old Brittany Zamora was formerly a teacher at the Las Brisas Academy Elementary School in the Liberty Elementary School District when she started an affair with the victim after she asked her students to install an online instruction app called Class Craft because she was "bored".
Having initially started out by exchanging flirtatious messages, the pair soon began sending each other sexually explicit messages. The victim often sent her brightly-colored sticky notes in class, some of which were love letters while others were more of an obscene nature. She, in turn, sent him naked pictures of herself and others of her in her lingerie.
Their relationship escalated further one night when the victim was staying at his grandparents' house. She came over in her car, following which the teen snuck out at midnight and the two performed oral sex on each other. She returned the next night and they had sex.
A few days later, when she was in a room with the victim and a friend to help them prepare for a talent show, she had sex with the teen again, this time making the friend stand guard to ensure no one would catch them. The affair came to light after the boy's parents installed an app called Sentry Parental Control on his phone to monitor explicit messages and noticed his exchanges with Zamora. When they confronted him, he confessed.
Zamora was arrested in March 2018 and charged with 10 counts of sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of molestation, two counts of furnishing sexually explicit material to a minor, and one count of public sexual indecency.
She initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but in June, accepted a plea deal that saw a few of the charges brought against her dropped. During her sentencing hearing on July 12, she apologized for her actions. "I am a good and genuine person who made a mistake and regret it deeply," she said, according to the Arizona Republic.
"I lived my life respecting and trying to obey every law. I'm not a threat to society by any means," she continued, also telling Judge Sherry Stephens that she plans to earn a new degree in prison so she can start a new life when she gets out.
A victim impact statement from the boy's father read out to the court by their attorney said, "To Brittany Zamora, I hope you spend every waking moment in your prison cell thinking about the horrendous crime you committed that got you behind bars."
"Now you'll spend the rest of your youth and most of your adulthood in jail... I will not allow you to interfere in my son's life further. Good triumphs over evil and you're just a dark shadow and our family will defeat you."
Zamora ultimately received the maximum possible punishment and was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. She will receive credit for the 500 days she has already served.
According to the conditions of her sentencing, she cannot be released early for good behavior and will be 48 or 49 years old when she finally walks out of prison. The judge also ordered that after she is released, she serve two life terms of probation and register herself as a sex offender.