A former Georgia Christian school teacher was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison after admitting she sexually abused a 15-year-old student in a scandal that shut down the private academy.
Sherri Delle Mauldin, 61, pleaded guilty in Greene County Superior Court and was also sentenced to 25 years of probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
The case centered on allegations that Mauldin abused a teenage boy while she worked at Nathanael Greene Academy, a private Christian school in Siloam, Georgia. Prosecutors said the abuse happened over the course of a month and involved multiple sexual encounters in different locations.
“What we had here was a 15-year-old child, and let’s call it what it is — a 60-year-old adult,” Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III told The Union-Recorder after sentencing.
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Barksdale said prosecutors sought a longer prison term because of several “aggravating circumstances,” including the age gap between Mauldin and the student and the teacher-student relationship.
“Age gap is something that was an aggravated circumstance, and the fact that it was a teacher and a student — that was an aggravating circumstance,” Barksdale said. “The fact that this was a criminal act that took place over the course of a month… was an aggravating circumstance.”
Judge Terry N. Massey ultimately sentenced Mauldin to six fewer years than prosecutors requested.
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Mauldin’s attorney had argued for a probationary sentence and asked the court to spare her prison time. During testimony, Mauldin reportedly described herself as being in “a dark place” at the time of the abuse and expressed remorse.
The investigation into Mauldin began after another former Nathanael Greene Academy teacher, Bonnie Elizabeth Brown, 26, was arrested on allegations she also had sexual contact with the same student.
Brown has pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial, which is scheduled to begin next month, according to prosecutors.
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The scandal involving both educators led to the closure of Nathanael Greene Academy, which had operated since 1959. The academy announced it would permanently close last year amid fallout from the investigation.
The teenage victim previously accused school officials of failing to protect him.
“These women took advantage of their positions as my teachers,” the boy said in a statement to 11 Alive previously released through his attorney, Ashley Mitchell.
“My school did not protect me as a child,” he added.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office for comment.