Ex-teachers sentenced for sex with students

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Ex-teachers sentenced for sex with students

Kris Wernowsky
2010-04-16 17:27:29

Ashley Burkett and April Watson sobbed in the arms of their attorneys.

Their families and friends from the small community of Jay sat aghast and in tears at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse in Milton on Friday as a court security officer handcuffed the former Jay High School teachers and led them away to begin state prison sentences for having sex with students.

Circuit Judge Gary Bergosh sentenced the pair to 15 months in prison. In addition to the prison term, the former teachers will serve 60 months — five years — on probation that includes 18 months of community control for the incidents that began in 2007.

Burkett and Watson will be required to register as sex offenders with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the rest of their lives.

The pair entered no-contest pleas in January to three counts of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors.

The sentence represents nearly half the potential term of 33 months in state prison. Assistant State Attorney Christi Hankins asked the judge to order the teachers to spend five years in a state facility.

“The idea that they were teachers is absolutely revolting,” Hankins said.

Burkett, 32, and Watson, 33, were arrested Aug. 6 at the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Department and each was free on bond.

The investigation began, July 28 after an anonymous letter to the Sheriff’s Office mentioned a sexual relationship between the two teachers and three boys who were 17 at the time.

Neither teacher taught the students, but Hankins noted that in a small community such as Jay, the students would have known the Burkett and Watson were educators.

When interviewed, the boys admitted to having sex with the teachers between July and October 2007. Defense attorneys Barry Beroset and Robert Kimmel, representing Watson and Burkett respectively, said that the boy in the case said during depositions that they didn’t think the teachers should spend time in prison.

“‘I don’t think they should go to jail because it is 100 percent voluntary on both sides,’” Kimmel said, reading from the transcript of one of the depositions.

The News Journal does not publish names of victims of sex crimes.

Both attorneys called for reduced sentences that included no jail time. These crimes, the attorneys said, will haunt Burkett and Watson wherever they chose to live.

“Everyone is subject to human frailty,” Beroset said of Watson. “She made a very serious mistake that will follow her for the rest of her life.”

Two of the boys had sex with Watson at her home and Burkett’s home. One said he had sex with Burkett at her home and at Watson’s home.

Burkett taught reading and special-education students and was the assistant volleyball coach. Watson taught math and was the junior varsity cheerleader adviser.

The judge pointed to several factors that he weighed in reaching his sentence.

Bergosh, a former Escambia County School Board member, said that it was clear that Burkett and Watson violated the trust that comes with the position of being educators. They also supplied the teens alcohol and were the instigators in the sexual acts, calling and sending the teens text messages.

“Teachers occupy one of the most sacred positions in our society,” the judge said, adding later that, “Minors lack the mature sophistication of adults, which is why the law protects them.”

But what favored the former teachers was their immediate remorse with investigators; that the teens were all willing participants; and that they have suffered great public scrutiny through the media coverage of the crimes.

Neither will be allowed to teach again.

Burkett lost her home because of losing her job and Watson is buried in debt.

Both are mothers of two children and both have master’s degrees in education.

“It’s the adults’ responsibility to make the right decision, not the 17-year-old boys,” Hankins said. “Let’s be clear: There was no remorse until they were caught.”

The age of consent in the state of Florida is 18.

There is an exception called the “Romeo & Juliet” law that was crafted by the state Legislature in 2007.

Until the law was passed, law enforcement and courts considered it a predatory act for an 18-year-old high-school senior to have sex with a 16-year-old partner.

Hankins also addressed what she said is a gender disparity when it comes to cases where adults are accused of having sex with underage children.

“If this was a 29- and 30-year-old male teacher (who) had sex with a female student, it would be an uproar and an outrage and everybody would be out to get them,” she said.