Loophole sets free teacher, 27, who had vodka-fueled sex romp with teen boy
Sarah Lewis taught at a Utah high school. (Payson Police Department)
FOX NEWS - A high school teacher in Utah arrested earlier this year for a tryst with a 17-year-old male student is out of jail due to a legal technicality.
Sarah Lewis, a former teacher at Landmark High School in Spanish Fork, admitted to having sexual intercourse with the male student in her Payson home, according to a probable cause statement obtained by KUTV.
The 27-year-old admitted in court to giving the student vodka prior to having sex, and then told the teen to deny their relationship if anyone ever asked.
She was originally arrested in January and charged with rape, which was later reduced to one count of forcible sexual abuse. The ex-teacher's public defender, Tom Means, advised her to enter a plea of guilty, meaning she would face between 1 and 15 years in state prison.
But Means then found an amended statute in Utah Code that states, "if a minor is 16 or 17 years old, the rape charge can be reduced to Unlawful Sexual Conduct, when applied to a person who holds a relationship of special trust: such as an adult teacher, employee, or volunteer," according to court documents obtained by KUTV.
Utah law applies stricter punishments if there is more than a seven year age gap between the minor and the offender.