Ohio teacher who sent nudes and had sex with student, 16, released after serving just one year of her sentence
DAYTON, OHIO: A 27-year-old former teacher, who engaged in sex with a teenage student in exchange for improving his grades, has been released early from prison due to good behavior. According to Dayton Daily News, Madalyn Arnett, who used to teach social studies at Franklin High School, pleaded guilty in March 2019 to sexual battery in Warren County Common Pleas Court. She was sentenced by Judge Timothy Tepe to four years in prison in May 2019. After serving just a year of that sentence, she has been released.
Arnett's freedom was granted on May 4 after her attorneys filed a motion for judicial release in December, and which said that the former teacher was remorseful of her actions and had scored high marks in prison working as a food service worker and program aid. "Ms. Arnett has a permanent residence with family, and all of her family and friends reside in the area, including her three young children. Ms. Arnett plans on actively seeking work upon her release," her attorneys said in the motion asking for her release. "Ms. Arnett is extremely remorseful for her actions and has shown a deeper level of understanding and compassion for all victims."
Noting that the defendant used her position as an educator to commit the crime and it involved a victim who was 16 years old at the time of the crime being committed, prosecutors opposed Arnett's early release.
"The defendant used her position as the victim’s teacher to form a sexual relationship with the student and engaged in sexual conduct. The court gave the defendant a sentence to hold her accountable and punish her for the acts that led to her convictions," Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Carrie Heisele said.
According to the county prosecutor’s office, when Arnett was approached by the unnamed student for assistance to improve his grades, the teacher refused. However, later on, she contacted him on social media and began interactions that were “sexual in nature.” At one point, Arnett also sent nude pictures of herself to the student.
Then, on March 23, 2018, Arnett picked the student up in her car from a street near his home drove to a parking lot where she engaged in sexual intercourse with him in the vehicle. The incident was brought to the attention of the school administration, who then reported it to the police.
As part of the judicial release, Tepe ordered Arnett to make sure she has no contact with minor children except immediate family members. She is also to be placed on electronic monitoring until further order from probation, undergo complete sexual offender treatment, and be subjected to mental health assessment. She was also ordered to follow all the recommendations listed by the court.
In similar news, a married former high school teacher, 32-year old Mark Ryan Lua, from Escambia County, Florida, guilty of sexual intercourse with a student, on Wednesday, May 20, asked for physical or chemical castration instead of a prison sentence. The presiding judge, however, handed him a sentence of 12 years.