Ex-band teacher in Alabama pleads guilty to sex crime involving student
Published 6:15 am Wednesday, May 12, 2021
A former Alabama high school band director accused of having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student will avoid jail time after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge Tuesday.
Ashlee Elizabeth Steinman, 29, a former Chilton County High School worker entered her plea to a reduced charge of distributing obscene matter to a student, according to court records.
Under her plea agreement, Steinman received a one-year suspended sentence, with two years of probation and was ordered not to have contact with the victim. She was initially charged with engaging in a sex act with a student as a school employee and using her position to access the student and begin the relationship, both felonies, news outlets reported.
Steinman was also required to sign termination papers with the Chilton County school system and surrender her teaching certificate, among other punishments, AL.com reported.
Steinman was arrested in February after Clanton police received a report of an alleged relationship between the school worker and the teenage student, according to CJ Robinson, chief deputy district attorney of the 19th Judicial Circuit.