Christie Elliot, a now-former English teacher and cheerleading coach at
Empire High School in Tucson, pleaded guilty last month to assault of sexual nature
on a minor of 15 years or less after it was revealed that she had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.
Today, she was sentenced to three years probation. She faced up to two years in prison.
Initially, Elliot faced charges of luring a minor for sexual
exploitation and sexual conduct with a minor. She also faced one count
of bribing a witness for trying to get the victim to change his story
after the relationship was discovered.
Elliott admitted last month that she kissed the boy, which is a far cry from initial
allegations that she had him "touch her intimately."
The victim's parents, police say, found inappropriate messages on their son's cell phone in April 2010 and called police.
After
serving search warrants and interviewing those involved, police
determined that the student had an inappropriate sexual relationship
with Elliot, who happened to be his English teacher at the time.
