A high school teacher who had sex with two teenage boys was spared a lengthy prison sentence after one of the victims' fathers spoke in court in her defence, claiming his son was "thriving" and not traumatised by the relationship.
Shelby Dawn Lashombe, 25, of Waco, admitted the offence but received only a slap on the wrist as part of a plea deal with prosecutors last week in Texas, America. She was facing a hefty prison term but was given deferred probation for six years and a $1,000 fine.
Deferred Probation and Conditions
In cases ending with deferred probation, there is no final judgement of guilt and the teacher will avoid felony conviction if she complies with the conditions of probation. She was ordered to spend just four weekends in jail and another 60 days working on the county chain gang.
Judge Thomas West told the court that he would have given her a more severe sentence if one of the boys' fathers had not testified.
Father's Testimony
The victim's dad said his son is being supported by therapists but was not traumatised by what happened and was "excelling academically, playing well on his school football team and has recently been accepted to several universities".
The dad added that he does not consider Lashombe to be a sexual predator and does not want to see her go to prison. But his mother disagrees, and told how he wanted to switch schools, stopped going to church and claimed Lashombe's "calculated and predatory actions" robbed her son's innocence.
Details of the Offence
The teacher was rumbled after she was spotted kissing a 16-year-old. The court heard that neither of the victims were students at Valley Mills High School in central Texas, where Lashombe was teaching at the time of her arrest. The teen told cops how he had sex with the teacher "more than once," and that she knew he was underage.
Lashombe also admitted that they had been having sex for about six months - and also admitted to having sex with a second boy who was under the age of 17, and who attended a different school to the first victim.
Defence Argument
"She had no control over them. She had no power as a teacher over them," Lashombe's attorney Cody Cleveland said. "The boys independently reached out to her through social media and one thing led to another. But this was not a situation where she used any authority as a teacher over them to make them enter into what would be considered nonconsensual acts."
