The wheels of justice may move slowly in Florida, but they do move. And so it is that a former science teacher at a charter school in tranquil West Melbourne, Fla. pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two felony counts for her months-long romance with a teenage boy which ended in 2012.
The ex-teacher is Irene Khan, reports Orlando NBC affiliate WESH-TV.
Prosecutors say Khan, now 34, instigated the romance after the student waltzed to the front of her classroom at Imagine Charter School and wrote his phone number on the blackboard. He was hoping it might interest girls his age.
It’s not clear if the student — who was either 14 or 15 years old at the time — generated interest among his female classmates with this digits offering.
Most definitely, though, Khan’s interest was piqued.
The then-married teacher called and texted the boy herself. The relationship blossomed. Before long, the star-crossed lovebirds were having sex all over the place in the area —in Khan’s apartment, in her car and at hotels and motels in the beachfront area.
The months-long sexual encounters lasted throughout the 2011-2012 academic year.
West Melbourne police arrested Khan on June 13, 2012.
“She got into a sexual relationship with him over several months, and we got information on that, and we brought the victim in and questioned him,” police spokesman Steve Wilkinson told WESH-TV.
Officials at Imagine Charter fired Khan around the same time she was arrested. The sacking did not involve the teacher-student sex charges, though. Instead, Khan was fired for showing students her tattoos and for various other behavior deemed inappropriate.
Local court records show that Khan filed for divorce in October 2011. A judge granted the divorce in September 2012.
She and her ex-husband have children.
Khan pleaded guilty to two felony counts of lewd or lascivious battery against a minor, notes the Brevard Times. The initial charges had included eight counts.
Brevard County Circuit Court Judge James H. Earp generously sentenced Khan to exactly zero prison time (which is below Florida sentencing guidelines).
Khan will serve two years of community control (home confinement) and then be on sex offender probation for 10 years.
Earp sternly added that Khan cannot dress up as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, or in any costume designed to attract children, according to the Orlando NBC affiliate.
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