Special-Ed Teacher Pleads Guilty To Sleeping With Students Gets Probation

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Alabama Special Ed Teacher Gets Probation After Pleading Guilty To Having Sex With Students

Throughout one’s childhood, school is supposed to be a safe space where you get your education, connect with your peers, and gather tools to help you for the rest of your life. Of course, there’s the occasional bullying that happens, but it’s important to trust the school’s staff such as principals, teachers, and guidance counselors to oversee the students and make sure nothing out of pocket is happening.

Unfortunately for some students in Madison County, Alabama things far worse than bullying have been making headlines this week.

AL.com reports that on Tuesday, a former special education teacher by the name of Lyndsey Sherrod Bates pleaded guilty to multiple sexual charges involving two of her students. One of the charges was a felony charge of having sex with a student and engaging in a sex act with a student under the age of 19, along with three total misdemeanor counts of distributing obscene material to students.

Any logical person would think that these charges would be serious enough on their own that admitted guilt would send her to straight to jail for the rest of her life…but that wasn’t the case here. Bates’ ten year prison sentence was suspended, and instead, she was sentenced to time-served and three years of probation.

The disgraced teacher was arrested for the crimes last April putting her at just short of a year served. Her husband ended up filing for divorce only two days after she was arrested. The interesting part about this whole situation is that her now ex-husband’s father, Stacy, is a chief deputy for the Madison County sheriff’s office.

*Cardi B voice* How convenient is that?

Stacy Bates issued a statement on the surprising verdict, claiming that her relationship to the chief deputy didn’t impact the case, also making sure to mention that in Alabama, the age of consent is 16. It’s a sad day in the American education system where a child molester gets to walk free after sexually assaulting multiple students that were left under their supervision.