Education

Judge In Teacher-Student Sex Case: ‘What Young Man Would Not Jump On That Candy?’

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A former high school calculus teacher from the suburbs of Philadelphia was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 60 days under house arrest on Friday for her role in a 2013 sexual fling with a male student who was 17 at the time.

But that’s not the interesting news.

No, the interesting news is that the judge asked in open court, “What young man would not jump on that candy?”

The judge is Montgomery County Court Judge Garrett D. Page, according to the Daily Mail.

The teacher is Erica Ann Ginnetti, 35.

The tryst between Ginnetti, a married mother of three young children, and the student occurred in May 2013.

The requisite, large trail of easily traceable text messages between the star-crossed pair followed a prom night invite to the teacher’s gym. Some messages were sexually explicit. Some contained suggestive photos. Ginnetti also sent an explicit video starring herself.

On the fateful July night when Ginnetti and the student eventually consummated their affair, the romantic locale was inside a car in an industrial park. She sent him a text afterwards urging him to “do it again,” according to court records.

It’s not clear how local authorities became wise to the teacher-student affair, but both Ginnetti and the student owned up to it when police questioned them.

Ginnetti tearfully read an apology letter at her Friday sentencing hearing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

She explained that she and her husband are working to save their marriage and keep their family together. She said she has taken up a new career as a fitness coach, and that she volunteers at her church.

In addition to getting lyrically and directly to the heart of the matter concerning Ginnetti’s behavior, Judge Page sternly told the ex-teacher that penitence only goes so far.

“One bad day because of sexual hunger has resulted in all this avalanche of harm,” Page scolded, according to the Inquirer.

“I don’t believe you’re a bad human being,” the judge added. “You did a bad act. So I have to punish you.”

Ginnetti’s two crimes — institutional sexual assault and disseminating sexually explicit materials — carry a maximum combined prison sentence of 14 years in Pennsylvania.

Judge Page, 56, served as county treasurer and as a public defender before becoming a county judge in 2010, Montgomery Media notes. He was also a civil rights attorney previously.

Last year, Page warned that he would personally “crush” a convicted stalker if the stalker violated Page’s sentence.

“That should make you tremble a little bit,” Page said, according to the Pottstown Mercury. “Don’t mess up.”

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