A former Maryland teacher was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June after pleading guilty to unlawful child sex crimes against students. However, she will only serve one year in prison after the judge suspended most of her sentence.
On June 20, Melissa Marie Curtis pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree sex offense against an underage middle school student. At Friday's sentencing, Curtis was also sentenced to five years of supervised probation. According to to the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office.
The former student claimed that Mr. Curtis sexually abused her nearly 20 times.
Once released, Curtis will be required to register as a sex offender for 25 years. She also is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with minors other than her own children.
According to the previous statement In October 2023, the Montgomery County Police Department's Special Victims Investigation Unit began investigating an adult man who allegedly had sex with Curtis in 2015 when he was a minor and Curtis was 22 years old.
The victim was a student at Montgomery Village Middle School, and the incident continued for several months while Curtis was a teacher at the school, the statement said.
The alleged victim was a 14-year-old second-year junior high school student at the time. He is said to have volunteered at an after-school program run by Curtis.
Police executed the arrest warrant for Curtis on October 31, 2023, and Curtis turned himself in to authorities on November 7, 2023.
The former student claimed that Mr. Curtis sexually abused her nearly 20 times.
Citing court documents: DC News Now Curtis reported last year that he sexually abused students in his classroom, in his car, at his mother's house and at his home.
The news outlet also cited charging documents saying that Curtis “touched his penis and performed oral sex on him while in the classroom.” He is also suspected of providing alcohol and marijuana to minors.
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