Female teachers punished
Utah sex-crimes cases highlight stereotypes
For prosecutors, this is a simple matter. A crime is a crime.
But for some people, the idea of a female teacher engaging in sexual activity with a boy does not strike them as criminal.
Following the sentencing this week of Melinda Lee Deluca to 90 days in jail, several bloggers on the KSL-TV comment board cracked jokes about how "lucky" this boy was and wondered where such teachers were when they were in high school.
Deluca, 30, on Wednesday was sentenced by 3rd District Judge Stephen Roth after pleading guilty to third-degree felony attempted sexual abuse in connection with sex with a 16-year-old student. Her teaching license has been revoked.
Meanwhile, in Tooele on Tuesday, 3rd District Judge Mark Kouris ordered former math remediation lab coordinator Leslie Baird, 42, to spend three months at the diagnostic unit in the Utah State Prison. She will be sentenced April 17. She previously had pleaded guilty to second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse involving two male students, both 17. She was not a certified teacher.
She is accused of sexual activity with a 17-year-old male who was not her student. Her attorney insists she is innocent.
In the cases involving Deluca and Baird, the mothers of two victims spoke to the judges in court, and both described identical effects that the sexual relations had on their sons. Their once-happy teenagers are now deeply depressed, they no longer take part in the sports they once loved, their school work has suffered and other students shun them.
Lingering stereotypes
Gary Searle, prosecutor with the Tooele County Attorney's Office, said stereotypes linger about males and females when it comes to sex crimes.
"People just do not view males as victims in these types of cases, and it's especially true when it's a female victimizing the male," Searle said. "Some people say, 'How were you a victim in something every boy dreams about?'
"I think we as a society have, for years and years, said, 'A boy is a boy, and a boy does what a boy does.' We pat them on the back, we want them to be out there doing things as men. Our daughters we want to be treated as vulnerable and innocent."
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