A teacher who was impregnated by her 13-year-old pupil after admitting having 'near-daily sex' with him has been jailed for 10 years. Alexandria Vera, from Houston, Texas, was arrested on child sex abuse charges after she handed herself into Montgomery County police station on 1 June last year.
The 24-year-old was a teacher at Stovall Middle School when she began having sex with the boy and claimed that the pair had "loved each other".
The English teacher even said that the boy's parents approved of the relationship and allowed their son to stay over at her house. The boy's family were even reportedly "very supportive and excited" about the couple having a baby.
Reports say that Vera, who has a 4-year-old daughter from another relationship, began a relationship with the pupil when he missed class and messaged her on Instagram asking for her number to meet up, KPRC Houston reported.
The pupil was even spotted grabbing Vera's bottom in front of other children in the classroom, a fellow student said. The relationship developed and police say the boy would sleep at her house and she would drop him home in the morning so he could catch the bus to school.
"He like grabbed her butt and everyone saw it," one student told ABC News. "And then they were talking about it."
State District Judge Michael McSpadden said according to the Associated Press (AP): "We want out educators to teach our students. We want them to keep their hands off the students."
The sentence was reduced from 30 years after Vera admitted a lesser sex abuse charge of aggravated sexual assault rather than the continuous sexual assault of a child.
The baby the pair were expecting was terminated after Vera became concerned when Child Protective Services made an unexpected visit to her school and questioned their relationship.
One parent Gerson Bonilla said: "(It's) horrible for any father or any family member going through this situation. When you send your kid to the school you think everything will be safe for them and everything. But I think this is something that is serious that needs to be investigated."