A Florida middle school teacher has been arrested due to an allegedly inappropriate relationship with one of her 14-year old students.
According to Volusia County Sheriff’s Department, Stephanie Peterson Ferri was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious battery, along with one count of transmission of harmful materials to a minor.
The details behind these charges are pretty gross.
Authorities say the 26-year old science teacher at New Smyrna Beach Middle School started a sexual relationship with an eighth grader in November.
Police were alerted to this sordid situation on Tuesday, February 27 after the student (who is a minor and therefore unnamed in this report) told his parents about these naked encounters.
The young teenager told officials that the relationship began after Peterson sent him a bunch of naked photos of herself.
It was then taken further when the two would start meeting late at night, with Peterson picking up her sexual prey at his home around 11 p.m. on various nights and dropping him back off around 1 a.m.
Police also allege that Peterson bought this individual marijuana and smoking pipes.
At one point, the victim’s grades started to slip as a result of this romance, which only prompted Peterson to tell him that he couldn’t tell anyone about what was going on, lest they get in major trouble.
But the 14-year old finally realized that only his teacher would actually get in trouble for her misdeeds.
Peterson was arrested yesterday and booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail.
She is being held on a $ 25,000 bond.
As you can see below, this case has elicited quite the range of emotions and reactions on Facebook.
Some people think Peterson is disgusting, others think the young man was anything but a victim in this situation.
Here’s a look at the wide range of responses:
Peterson reportedly began teaching as a substitute teacher in this same school district in 2010, prior to becoming a full-time teacher in August of 2013.
She started teaching at New Smyrna Beach Middle School three years later.
School district spokesperson Nancy Wait says that Peterson resigned on Monday for “personal reasons.”
Per the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page:
Detectives are asking parents to talk to their kids, and anyone with information about any additional potential victims is asked to contact the VCSO Child Exploitation Unit at 386-323-3574.