Arizona teacher jailed for having sex with student, 13, groomed another by showing him pictures of genitalia
An Arizona high school teacher who hit national headlines for sending sexually explicit messages to her 13-year-old student and had sex with him on multiple occasions may have been grooming another student as well, it has been revealed.
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) previously reported that 28-year-old Brittany Zamora, formerly a teacher at Las Brisas Academy Elementary School in Liberty Elementary School District, had first been arrested in March 2018 after starting an affair with the victim via an online instruction app called 'Class Craft.'
She started talking to the victim and the messages, which were initially flirtatious, quickly became sexually explicit. Court records stated they once sexually touched each other in the class while the other students were watching a video.
He often sent her notes on 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.
It escalated further when, one night, she drove to the victim's grandparents' house and told him she wanted to show him how much she loved him. They performed oral sex on each other in her car, and the next night, had sex briefly before she had to leave because her husband called. 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 13-year-old's parents noticed he was acting strangely and installed an app called Sentry Parental Control on his phone to monitor explicit messages. They then noticed his exchanges with Zamora and confronted him, causing him to confess.
According to documents obtained by the Arizona Republic, Zamora may have been grooming another potential victim as well. The mother of a male friend of the victim told police the teacher promised to send her son naked pictures over the summer.
During class, she allegedly asked the friend whether he was circumcised. When he didn't understand the question, she is said to have shown him pictures of genitalia on her phone. The conversation stopped when it was time for recess and the friend said she never tried to touch or kiss him.
Zamora had initially been charged with 15 counts total, including eight counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. However, she struck a plea deal that saw prosecutors dismiss 12 of those counts.
The 28-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in prison last July under the plea deal and will be close to her 50s when she is released. The plea deal forbids her from having contact with any of the victims or returning to the scene of the crime, which includes the school where she previously worked as a teacher. After release, she would have to register as a sex offender and serve two lifetimes of probation.