Middle school teacher gets 20 years in prison for having sex with 13-year-old
(North Middle School, Joplin, Image credit: Google Maps)
On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri announced that a former Joplin, Missouri, middle school teacher was sentenced in federal court on November 23 for charges related to enticing one of her students to engage in illicit sex. Amanda Ruth Schweitzer, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 20 years in federal prison without parole.
The court also sentenced Schweitzer to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration.
On June 16, 2020, Schweitzer pleaded guilty to enticing a minor for illegal sexual activity. Schweitzer was a teacher at North Middle School in Joplin at the time of the offense.
The 13-year-old victim, who was a student of Schweitzer’s, reported Schweitzer sent nude photos of herself to the victim, with whom she primarily communicated via Instagram. Schweitzer reportedly also engaged in sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old on at least two occasions in March 2017. The student reported that he also sent a nude image of himself to Schweitzer.
Following her pleading guilty to a federal charge of child sodomy back in June 2020, the Joplin Globe reported that the investigation into Schweitzer’s extra-curricular activities began in 2017 when police in Joplin were informed that the teacher had been sending nude pics of herself to at least three North Middle School boys. That information was brought forward by the mothers of the boys who had the good sense to check their kids’ cell phones.
The mother of one of the students told authorities that her son told her that his teacher said, “She told him that he was hot and that she wanted him,” according to a detective’s report.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The case against Schweitzer was investigated by the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Joplin, Missouri Police Department and the FBI.
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
