A former Pennsylvania teacher who admitted to having sex with two teenage students was sentenced to at least nine months in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender, The Citizens Voice reported.
Lauren Harrington-Cooper, a former English teacher at Wyoming Valley West High, pleaded guilty last Thursday to engaging in sexual acts with an 18-year-old and 17-year-old student. The 32-year-old married teacher also sent sexually explicit text messages to two more underage boys.
Harrington-Cooper was sentenced to 9-23 months in prison, and will spend the next 25 years as a registered sex offender.
"She's no different than a male predator," Luzerne County Detective Chaz Balogh, who investigated the case, told the newspaper. "She did the same thing except she's female, which makes this case a little unique."
Investigators said Harrington-Cooper used her position to take advantage of her students, allegedly telling one student in the classroom, "All the candy you need is right here," the newspaper reported.
Charges were filed against the teacher in December 2013 claiming she had sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old student. By January, she was accused of performing oral sex on a 17-year-old student.
The school said it did not find evidence of any sexual act taking place on the premises.
Police later charged Harrington-Cooper with two counts of corrupting minors for sending inappropriate texts to a 16 and 17-year-old boy. She showed her breasts to one of the boys, prosecutors said, according to The Citizens Voice.
Joe D'Andrea, the teacher's lawyer, said his client is deeply insecure and was diagnosed with a psychological issue stemming from feelings of inadequacy.
"You would think that she's a pretty, young girl, that she would feel good about herself. But her self-esteem issues have really troubled her all of her life, and she found comfort and solace in some people giving her attention, as wrong as it was," D'Andrea said.
Harrington-Cooper, who resigned from her job in January, is to undergo evaluation to determine if she is a sexually violent predator and therefore likely to offend again.
