The Houston middle school teacher who admitted to having near-daily sex with a 13-year-old student was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.
Alexandria Vera told investigators that she was impregnated by the boy she met as an eighth grader in her summer school English class in 2015.
The 24-year-old faced 30 years in prison after prosecutors accused her of continuous sexual abuse, but she received less time after pleading guilty to a lesser charge, according to KPRC.
State District Judge Michael McSpadden said the decade behind bars was needed to send a message.
"We want our teachers to educate our children," he said in court, according to KHOU. "To keep their hands off our children, to prepare them for the future."
A therapist spoke on Vera's behalf Friday and said that she was in love with the student, who reportedly looked older than 13, and was not a "traditional pedophile."
News of the relationship gained international attention after she briefly went on the run and then turned herself in on the sex abuse charges last summer.
Investigators said that the illicit relationship began after the boy contacted Vera on Instagram, and they began having sex over the course of nine months.
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One fellow student told KTRK that the pair’s flirtation spilled over into the classroom, where the boy once was seen grabbing his teacher’s behind.
Vera claimed to investigators that the boy’s parents knew what was happening, approved of it and let their son stay over at her house and were supportive of her keeping the baby.
Other details in the case were revealed at Friday's sentencing, according to KHOU, including that Vera's 6-year-old daughter reportedly called her mother's 13-year-old victim "dad."
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Vera had pornographic pictures of herself and the boy on her phone and allowed other students to have sex in her home, the station reported.
Vera was allowed to remain free on bail during the trial, though was threatened with being sent back to jail after being accused of jogging around the track at the school where she lost her job.
She is eligible for parole after five years.
The boy is currently in foster care, KTRK reported.
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