Allyssa Gustafson, 24, was a teaching assistant, and now she is waiting for a sentence after she confessed to having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
We will learn her final punishment this month, on October, 30.
On Monday, Judge Roger Webber accepted her guilty plea to a single count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Pleading guilty
Assistant worked at Circle Academy in Urbana, Illinois, and is a mother of two.
The charges came in November 2019, after the police found photos that Gustafson sent to the student that consisted of her in a bathing suit and underwear.
The "relationship" lasted from August 1 to August 30, 2019.
To make matters worse, the Academy serves children who have behavioral and emotional challenges.
Assistant State's Attorney Kristin Alferink said that police had evidence that showed that the woman and the teen met as many as five times before the end of the previous school year.
The two had sexual relations at the teen's home in Champaign.
The pair used Facebook Messenger and Snapchat to keep in touch. She would finally tell the teen that he needed to delete their conversations. She also informed him that she had to block him, according to Alferink.
Because of the plea deal, Alferink dismissed a harsher count of criminal sexual assault.
Gustafson's bail was originally set for $250,000. Still, it was dropped to $100,000 after her lawyer, Mark Lipton, argued that his client had been aware of the investigation and pursuing instructions concerning her children and the Department of Children and Family Services.
The boy's mother reacted as well
The boy's mother filed a civil suit against Cunningham Children's Home and Circle Academy in February, Fox Illinois reported.
The suit claimed "willful negligence and disregard for her son's welfare" and sought $5 million in damages.
Since it's a school for kids with emotional issues, it's not impossible to think that the mother has a case.
We have too many cases of teachers going after their students, and the price is too high. The scars and the shame stay with the abused teen or a child for a long time!
