The plea means that Njoroge was not admitting to the felony charge of sexual contact with a student, but was acknowledging that the prosecution had enough evidence to convict her and that she might be facing a longer sentence if she had gone through with the trial. Njoroge waived a pre-sentence investigation and went straight to the sentencing.
It could not have been a shorter sentence.
Judge David Mouton handed Njoroge a suspended sentence and placed her on supervised probation for five years. She will also have to pay $50 to the Jasper County Law Enforcement Restituation Fund. She will be allowed access to her children and will surrender her teaching certificate. Njoroge was represented by attorneys Dee Wampler, Joe Passanise, Scott Pierson and Judd McPherson.
The sentence came during a day in which proceedings were delayed due to a power outage this morning caused by a nearby traffic accident.
Today's hearing brought a conclusion to a three-and-a-half year process that began with Njoroge's arrest for an after school hours sex act with an 18-year-old high school student on April 15, 2014. Two days later, Webb City R-7 officials placed Njoroge on paid administrative leave and she later resigned from her teaching position.
The April 15 sex session was not the first Njoroge had with the teenager, according to court documents. The relationship began three months earlier.
The probable cause statement, written by Webb City Police Department Cpl. Josh Smith, is printed below:
On April 15, 2014, between the hours of 19:30 and 21:30 hours at 621 N. Madison, Webb City, Jasper County, Missouri, 64870 (Webb City High School), Carrie Njoroge, a Webb City High School choir teacher, had consensual sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old male student in her office. The student stated they participated in an ongoing relationship for approximately three months involving oral sex on multiple occasions and sexual intercourse on April 15, 2014.
3 years in the court system and now a plea agreement? It doesn't seem like justice was served.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is what I read about this. She was 30 and the student was 18. Had she not been his teacher, there was no crime. She appropriately lost her job of 7 years, and her teaching license which is her livelihood. This is appropriate. She has been publicly shamed and probably destroyed her marriage and family. It seems to me that criminally prosecuting her is piling on, and crippling her future by registering her as a sexual predator is overkill. I don't understand the hunger for retribution in this area.
ReplyDelete@5:42, In no area, should we tolerate teachers sleeping with students in their classrooms.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't a crime she wouldn't have been arrested. Three years, four lawyers, untold dollars in legal fees later she walks away with no jail time and a $50 fine. It isn't a craving for retribution we seek,it is upholding the judicial system we strive so diligently to protect.
ReplyDeleteSomebody said she's a nurse now.....that can't be true.
ReplyDeleteShe is not. Works in insurance
DeleteProbably because we have zero tolerance for people who betray the Public Trust.
ReplyDeleteOnly a MAGA hat wearing Chumpster would excuse behavior like this imo!
ReplyDelete@2:52 Or a yarmulke wearing Weinstein apologist. Big diff between saying and doing. President or not.
ReplyDeleteHad this been a male teacher with a female student, I believe there would have most likely been jail time. Because she is an attractive woman who seduced a male student, she gets off easy. Any time a K-12 teacher has sex with a student, it is a felony, regardless of the age of the student.
ReplyDeleteAre you not a concenting adult at the age of 18 around here? I don't see how this is a crime.
ReplyDelete