Former Steel Valley teacher pleads guilty to sexting students
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A former Steel Valley teacher will spend the next five years on probation, must register as a sex offender and avoid contact with anyone under the age of 18 after she pleaded guilty Tuesday to sending nude photographs of herself to at least four teenaged boys last spring.
Jennifer Lynn Sowa Smith, 30, was arrested in June after the Steel Valley High School principal reported that Ms. Smith had been sending inappropriate text messages to several students.
She pleaded guilty before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel to corruption of minors, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of child pornography, unlawful contact with a minor and endangering the welfare of children.
Ms. Smith, who expressed remorse for her actions, also has lost her teaching certificate and must avoid employment or volunteer work in any place where children might be.
According to the criminal complaint, Ms. Smith began texting, having conversations on Facebook and sending students pictures on their cell phones in April.
One student, who was 15 at the time, said he sent a message to Ms. Smith on Facebook about a class, and the two then became friends on the social networking site. At one point, she told the boy he looked cute at school, and he responded that she "looked sexy."
Over a week, the complaint said, the two sent messages back and forth that were sexual. In one exchange, the boy said Ms. Smith told him he "looked sexy" at baseball practice.
During their texting, Ms. Smith sent the boy two pictures, one of her breasts with her face clearly visible and another of her genitalia, the complaint said.
A number of boys reported receiving the same two pictures, as well as another of Ms. Smith wearing a black bra, police said.
Investigators also found records on Facebook of graphic sexual exchanges between Ms. Smith and the boy.
First Published January 4, 2012 12:00 am
