Carrie McCandless
| Former Brighton Charter High School
teacher Carrie McCandless was sentenced to 45 days in jail Friday for
providing alcohol to, and having unlawful sexual contact with a 17-year
old student. As part of her plea agreement, she also has to
register as a sex offender. Prosecutors said McCandless
was "grooming" her victim, and that she never owned up to what she did.
"There was downplaying, almost like it was a mistake and it was his
fault," said prosecutor Michael Pierson. McCandless was accused of fondling the student during a field trip to a YMCA camp near Estes Park. Her attorney said it was the other way around, that she was sleeping and the student, three months shy of his 18th birthday, came up behind and fondled her. "Anyone who doesn't think that a kid that age is capable of doing what I explained to the judge is crazy," said defense attorney M. Trent Trani. "He's more than capable of it." Prosecutors said a fellow student witnessed McCandless and the victim making out on the floor. But Trani said investigators never followed up with that witness. He said she didn't have her glasses on and she was sick that night. |
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Trani added, "She didn't know if one person was awake,
or if one person was asleep." District Court Judge James Hiatt said
McCandless was over the line. "This was a serious criminal offense, Hiatt
said. "The responsibility falls on Mrs. McCandless. She was the teacher.
She was the adult. She was the one who was supposed to set the boundries."
Pierson said the sentence will send a message to all teachers that they have a responsibility to be loyal to their schools and to set boundries with students. "If they're going to fall short of that, then they can expect to see us in court, and (they can expect) not to be teachers." McCandless was fired from her job at Brighton Charter High School shortly after the allegations surfaced. Her husband Chris is still principal at that school. Both declined comment following today's sentencing hearing. The student, Tommy Clay, appeared on national television in March and said that he and McCandless became close because he found it easy to talk to her. "And then I guess when we got into it a little bit more, it got a little bit more intimate," Clay said. Clay also told police that he and McCandless professed their love to each other. He said they once sent 76 text messages to each other in one day. McCandless was 29 at the time. The president of the charter school's board, David Mundy, faces charges of failing to report child-abuse allegations and tampering with a witness in connection with the case.
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A former Brighton Collegiate High School teacher who pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a student is back in jail for a probation violation, authorities said. Carrie McCandless turned herself in at the Larimer County jail Friday and is serving a 30 day sentence. Her attorney would not comment. The head of probation, Paul Cooper, said McCandless violated her probation by having sexual contact with a man on parole from prison. She was caught by his parole officer in Weld County. |
| "A parole officer was doing a home visit on one of his
parolees and found her in the apartment in the bed, basically," Cooper said.
McCandless, 32, was seen having sexual contact with a 17-year-old student
during a school trip to the Estes Park area in October 2006. She also gave
alcohol to the student and her friends. "Part of that is, with
her treatment team, which is a probation officer and therapist, informing us
or getting approval for any kind of romantic or sexual relationships because
she's in treatment and that's part of managing all of that," Paul Cooper
said. McCandless pleaded guilty to various charges and was sentenced to probation with deferred sentences. A court filing signed by McCandless says she also tested positive for alcohol last year and she's not allowed to drink. "With sex offenders keeping secrets is a big deal," Cooper said. "I mean that's part of what they're all about; keeping secrets, living two lives." |
Update
| Carrie McCandless, the former Brighton Collegiate High
School teacher who pleaded guilty to having a sexual liaison with a
student in 2006, is back in jail for violating probation. She turned
herself in at the Larimer County jail Friday, and is serving a 30-day
sentence for unlawful sexual contact with a parolee WHO IS AN ADULT!!!
(does that make sense to you?) Her attorney, M. Trent Trani,
declined to comment Monday. According to the The Coloradoan,
McCandless violated probation March 6. McCandless, 32, was a Brighton Collegiate High School teacher in October 2006, when she served as a chaperone for a group of students on a camping trip to the YMCA of the Rockies Camp near Estes Park. Witnesses said McCandless provided alcohol to a 17-year-old student and his friends and was later seen having sexual contact with the student. She was also violated her bail last January by placing a call to the boy. McCandless pleaded guilty in April to two misdemeanors — unlawful sexual contact and contributing to the delinquency of a minor — and to tampering with physical evidence, a felony. She was sentenced to 45 days in jail, supervised probation for five years and registration as a sex offender for 10 years for the unlawful sexual contact charge. McCandless received a four-year deferred sentence on the deliquency charge, and a two-year deferred sentence for the tampering charge. |
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