Ex-Teacher Caught With Boy, Jailed

The former grade school teacher who had sex with a 13-year-old boy and gave birth to his child was sent back to prison for nearly 7 1/2 years Friday after they were caught apparently trying to run away together.

Mary Kay LeTourneau, 35, and the teenager were found Tuesday in a parked car. Prosecutors said they had $6,200 in cash, men’s and infant’s clothing and her passport.

LeTourneau had been freed from jail a month earlier, on the condition that she stay away from the boy, now 14. On Friday, Judge Linda Lau sent her back to prison to serve out the suspended portion of her sentence.

“Within weeks from your release from jail you purposely violated the terms of your agreement,” the judge said. “This case is not about a flawed system. This is about an opportunity that you foolishly squandered.”

LeTourneau stared blankly upon hearing the sentence and said nothing as she was led away in handcuffs. She was under a suicide watch in jail.

LeTourneau’s lawyer, David Gehrke, pleaded for a six-month sentence and additional treatment for her, saying she is sick and fixated on the boy.

“Society does not need to be protected from Mary LeTourneau,” Gehrke said. “The person who really needs to be protected from Mary LeTourneau is Mary LeTourneau.” She bit her lower lip and dabbed at her eyes as Gehrke spoke.

LeTourneau and the boy met when he was one of her pupils. They began having sex in 1996 after he had advanced to middle school.

In August, she pleaded guilty to child rape and in November was sentenced to six months in jail. With time already served and good behavior, she was out by Jan. 2, on the condition she stay away from minors and undergo three years of sex-offender treatment.

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On Friday, prosecutors told the judge that LeTourneau apparently had met with the boy on other occasions after she was released from jail and that they may have been preparing to flee--perhaps with their 9-month-old baby, who is being raised by the boy’s mother.

Gehrke said LeTourneau never intended to flee. He said she was keeping the $6,200, believed to have come from her teacher retirement account, because she feared it would be seized in bankruptcy proceedings.

Det. Dane A. Bean said the boy told him there had been no sexual contact but that they had kissed frequently and held hands and that he had touched her on the upper thigh. The two were found fully clothed.

Police said LeTourneau at first insisted that she was alone in the car, and later she and the boy gave police false names.

Her parole officer, David Gilkey, said she told him many of the items in the car were there because she was moving to a friend’s house. She also said she “simply enjoyed wearing oversized men’s clothing,” Gilkey said.