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Updated 8 p.m. ET: FORT WORTH, Texas -- Brittni Colleps, the Kennedale teacher accused of having improper sexual relationships with several of her students, has been found guilty on all counts of five indictments against her.
Colleps was sentenced to five years in prison Friday afternoon.
Colleps showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were read on all 16 counts of the indictments. Her husband, on the other hand, was emotional and crying as his wife, with her bail now revoked, was led from the courtroom in the custody of the state.
Colleps was indicted on five charges of having an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and student after school officials learned of the allegations and took the matter to the Arlington police.
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The trial began earlier this week with graphic testimony including text messages and a cell phone video that showed one of the alleged sexual incidents. The prosecution wrapped up their case Thursday before closing arguments began Friday morning.
The five victims all testified to having a sexual relationship with the married mother of three in her Arlington home between April and May of 2011. All five of the students were in Colleps' senior English class in the spring of 2011 and all of the victims were at least 18 when the incidents occurred.
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NBCDFW.com
Brittni Colleps, shown in court on Thursday, has been found guilty on all counts of five indictments against her for having improper relationships with five of her students.
Despite their age, Texas law forbids sexual relationships between teachers and students, even if the students are legal adults and consent to the relationship. Several of the victims testified Thursday to not wanting to testify in the trial with one of them saying he didn't want to press charges.
After closing arguments, the jury took about an hour to render the verdict.
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If I were the husband of this woman, I would be filing the divorce papers while I was at the court house.
This is the problem with allowing gays in our schools as teachers! /s
What part of a female teacher having sex with 18 year old male students has a damn thing to do with gay teachers? Do you know what the definition of being gay even is????
Hey Cory, I could be wrong, but I think the forces of irony are at work here.
Yikes, is this a step in the wrong direction or what? Improper: yes. Stupid: yes. Deserving of being sent to jail and being a convicted felon for the remainder of your life? Not a chance. What the F are they doing? Come on, where is the logic. Where have they gone when sleeping with of age students demands felony charges and significant jail time? What the F. Wow. Just dumbfounded.
How about if it was a man with your 18 year old daughter would you be saying the same thing then?
The state has drawn a line between where teachers are and where students are not to be.The law was voted on after legislative discussions.The legislature determined,NO teacher should have sexual interactions with any student .There are any number of reason why this should be.You can't just pick and choose to obey the laws you like and disobey the laws you find frivalous!That would lead to chaos!
Yes I would Starnexus.
If she didn't learn from my life lessons growing up, then I failed as a parent if this happened and the blame would lie squarely on my shoulders for failing her.
to mas098 Your right it picking and choosing the laws you want to enforce leads to chaos. Just look at the federal immigration laws. The President himself pics and chooses which laws to enforce why cant the general public do it.
I would. We consider people whom are 18 legally adults, and allow them to make decisions about their lives, vote, etc. Because I believe men and women are equal I would grant an 18 year old girl that as much as a guy. This law in Texas is stupid, this woman should lose her job, and never be able to teach again. Does she deserve to go to prison for having consentual sex with legal adults? No. That is what is a bridge too far in this case. I know there have been a lot of cases recently involving female teachers and underage boys, and I would support jail time in those cases, but not for one that involves a legal adult.
Then maybe we should enforce every stupid law....like: you can be fined $500 for sitting on the sidewalk in Galveston; Cattle thieves may be hanged on the spot; It's illegal for children to have unusual haircuts in Mesquite. I say, when the punishment for a crime is so severe, you DO HAVE TO QUESTION whether or not you enforce it or not. Because some laws are just dumb.
A minor is under 18, not 21. See: (Texas) CIVIL PRACTICE & REMEDIES CODE, CHAPTER 129. AGE OF MAJORITY, § 129.001. AGE OF MAJORITY. The age of majority in this state is 18 years.
Therefore, applying the law as it was applied in this case, if a teacher in Texas cannot legally have sex with a student, does that mean that a 40 year old student, college student, grad student or otherwise, could not have sex with an adult, 40 year old teacher ? It would seem such a relationship would be a violation of the law.
Such a progressive state, Texas.
Well all I can say is either that husband wasnt taking care of bussiness at home, or this woman is a freak, either way it was with 18 year old men. Men who didnt want to press charges. This just seems like a complete waste of taxpayer money. So did these five men face any charges, or reprecusions other than getting high fives from all thier friends....i highly doubt it. And don't give me that "these boys were irreparably damaged" BS, because every and I mean EVERY high school boy has fantasies about having sex with a hot teacher. Period.
Now if we could just get that same consistent application of the as it pretains to illegal aliens! For some reason,no one will prosecute an illegal alien.Hell,this woman should have claimed she was originally from Mexico and has a dual citizenship.They would have not prosecuted her.
Much damage?? These guy where having the time of there life. Trashy kids that they are. Takes two. Waste of time having this in court. The broad is guilty of stupid & infidelity nothing more. Take away her teaching license & send her packing, quit wasting tax dollars on stupid.
bogus, at 18 free will should rule , what a bunch of buttinskis. all 18yo men want to do their fine azzed teach. the sad part is her family, but like Mr and Mrs Clinton, its their biz . It is so lucky that texas has all the real crime under control and has the resources to intervene to protect these youths,
Normal sex between adult heterosexuals should always be legal and not the states issue.
Maybe texas could go islam and stone her, might as well. let he who is without sex throw the first stone.
At first I thought this was harsh but now after thinking about it I like the law. As a teacher I'm mortified that another teacher would take advantage of a student in that way. Had it been a man with an 18 year old female student nobody would be defending him. I'm glad the law is there too. We need harsh sentences like this to discourage others who make think its appropriate to abuse their position like this.
We need terminations of employment, losing your teaching license. Defining this as a crime is ridiculous.
Lol American social and moral standards are at an all time low, do you forget Van Halen - Hot For The Teacher song and video promoting such ill behavior.
Its a lil' late to condemn sexest behavior widely promoted/produced by the mass media corporations, long term effects on American culture are still being manifested across the country.
Well this is... unethical.
She not only took advantage of her position of authority, but damn 5 18 year olds from April to May.. WHAT A SKONKA!!!
the guys were stupid for saying anything, they could have kept hitting it, unless maybe it turned them gay ???
"...Colleps showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were read on all 16 counts of the indictments."
Is she not standing there crying??
This woman should not go to jail. She is sick and she needs help. To call those boys as victims is outrageous. They know exactly what they were doing.
They are not vicitms, but you can't have hobags teaching highschool students - and that is the bottom line. It is not okay for 18 yr old highschool students to be banging their teachers. The teacher has the power so the teacher is the one that has to say no.
That being said, I can only assume that she is a hobag based on the guilty verdict. If they somehow fabricated the story and the video, I can only assume her attorneys would have been able to prove that
So..according to TEXASS law...if a college teacher is 50 and has sex with his/her 45 year old student.....that teacher can go to jail.
WTF????????
Give Texass back to Mexico.......
The Texas law doesn't apply to university teachers and students.If it did,Texas would have no professors under the age of 75.
Why do people not understand how to spell simple words ? VICTIM....APPEASE....FOOL....Thyese words are on a third grade level for goodness sake. Please use spell check before posting and stop making yourself appear to be totally uneducated and here's the word........IGNORANT.
This teacher knew she was breaking the law but so did her students who likely and willingly jumped on the band wagon big time. What healthy 18 year old boy wouldn't ? No prison time in Texas, but how about community service in a sex addiction halfway house ?
You spelled These wrong!
You spelled "These" wrong!
Sorry, but when I was 18 having sex with a hot teacher would have been awesome!!!! I'm mean Van Halen even wrote a song about it. And the guys were 18 years old for cryin out loud!!!! They are old enough to go overseas and die for our country so they should be able to get a piece. So what if it was the teach!!!! Now I can understand she having to pay a huge fine and loosing her teachers license. But 2 to 20 for each count? Give me a break. Texas correctional system must be run by a Corporation and some politician is getting a kickback for the amount of people they put in prisons. This was a non-violent offense and no juveniles were involved. The sentence makes no sense to me. So Ladies and gents!!! You better watch who you screw or this could happen to you!!!!!!!!!!
They are run by a corporation and they do get a kick back from the state for every inmate in their facilities. Problem is the state pays this kickback and we pay the state. 36 THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR to put a woman in Jail who slept with ADULTS...WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heck, what did she do, have an orgy with all 5 of the students at once? What a sick nymphomaniac! And to think, she was married with 3 children, no less! Appalling!
Pretty crazy. I think it is not the best judgment but they
were all 18. Maybe she should be fired but not prosecuted.
I wonder if a man would have been prosecuted…
these LITTLE CRAPS NEEDED TO KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT AND JUST KEEP GETTIN AT THAT THANG!!! Wish I could have gotten a look at some of my teachers pooters.
I dont agree with these laws if the people involved are all legal age. I think the fact shes a teacher is irrelevant. Now if they were underage, that would be entirely different. These boys were 18, and adults. Thats drinking age in a good part of the world. And old enough to go to war. If the students werent coerced, then there should be no charges. Its only sexual harrassment when the underling is unwilling or felt coerced. I have no idea if these boys were willing or not, it doesnt say. But on the surface it doesnt seem so. At 18 I would have been more then willing. Heck im still willing. lol.
These laws are prudish and need to be brought up to modern standards.
The law is not so much about sex as it is boundaries! Let students and teacher have sex?What's next?You have to have boundaries with high school students or kids in that age group.I've met a lot of kids who were 18 but 16 emotionally.Chronological age is only one factor!
No, let adults have sex. The fact they met as an education centre is irrelevant, they are adults.
They dont check to see if an 18 year old is "emotionally" 18 yet, when they draft his ass and send him to die for his country.
Im not suggesting they allow kids to have sex. Im saying once they are all adults its no ones business.
Dang it where were these teachers when I was in school !!! Seriously, considering these kids are not minors, the worst that should happen to this teacher is get fired and possible have her teaching license suspended.
Come on now, she deserves a special commendation for spending the extra time with the lads beyond school hours. I'm sure if the boys were allowed to be honest they would tell you they have a new appreciation for the teaching profession.