A former teacher at a South Florida middle school who was arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old former student more than two years ago pleaded guilty to multiple charges Wednesday.
Brittiny Lopez-Murray, 33, entered a guilty plea to six charges, including lewd and lascivious battery, lewd and lascivious molestation of a child and electronic transmission harmful to minors.
In exchange, she was sentenced to two years of community control plus 10 years of probation, must register as a sex offender and must attend a program for mental disorder sex offenders.
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Prosecutors said the plea deal was approved by the victim's family. Lopez-Murray didn't want to comment after her sentencing.
Lopez-Murray was a drama teacher at Hialeah Middle School when she was arrested in October 2021. She had previously been named "rookie teacher of the year" in 2017.
A police report said Lopez-Murray started the relationship with the teenager in August 2021. The teen had been her student when he attended Hialeah Middle School, but was in high school at the time of the encounters.
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The police report said the victim's sister became suspicious of his behavior and managed to get his phone, where she saw "explicit text messages and photos" between the teen and Lopez-Murray.
The boy's father later saw the phone, which had explicit photos that Lopez-Murray had sent, the report said. Text messages detailed "how much they enjoyed the sex with each other."
The boy was interviewed by Hialeah police and told investigators Lopez-Murray sent him a text and they later met for coffee. He told police that led to multiple sex acts in her car, including in the parking lot at a mall and grocery store.
In some cases, she would pick him up from basketball practice, authorities said.
