Married Alabama teacher who had sex with student and shared nude photos with another spared jail
MADISON COUNTY, ALABAMA: An Alabama teacher who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from her sexting and having sexual contact with two students will not be spending time behind bars and has been instead, sentenced to probation.
Lyndsey Sherrod Bates, 23, formerly a special education teacher at Madison County High School was arrested in May 2019 after sending nude photographs of herself to two students and having sex with one of them, according to People.
Officials alleged Bates had sex with a 17-year-old male student in February, and send sexually explicit photos to a second student in March. Following the allegations, the teacher had resigned from her position.
While both students were at least 16-years-old, which is the age of consent in Alabama, and neither student was in Bates' classroom, the state's teacher-student sex law explicitly prohibits all school employees from having sexual relations with students and says "consent is not a defense."
The same day she resigned, she also separated from her husband, and two days after her arrest, he filed for divorce, citing "incompatibility."
At the time of her arrest, it was pointed out that her mother-in-law, Stacey Bates, is a chief deputy for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, which investigated the case. However, the MCSO insisted their relationship did not affect their probe into the teacher.
Bates was eventually charged with three counts of distributing obscene material to a student, one count of a school employee engaging in a sex act or deviant sexual intercourse with a student, and one count of a school employee having sexual contact with a student under the age of 19 years.
Earlier this week, as part of a plea deal, she pleaded guilty to the three counts of distributing obscene material to a student and having sex with a student and further engaging in a sex act with a student younger than 19 in exchange for the dropping of the fifth charge.
While she was initially facing up to 20 years in bars, the plea deal saw her sentenced to time served plus three years of probation. She was handed a 10-year suspended prison term as well, which she can avoid if she completes probation.
A judge also ordered her to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
Speaking after the verdict, Madison County Assistant District Attorney Tim Douthit said, "She’s going to be a sex offender and felon. But we’re not sending people to jail for consensual sex without any evidence of coercion."