Louisiana teachers Shelley Dufresne and Rachel Respess charged for sex with a student
Two former Louisiana teachers accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student have been formally charged in the case more than a year after their arrest.
The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office on Monday brought two counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile against Shelley Dufresne, 33, and one count of failure to report the commission of certain felonies against 25-year-old Rachel Respess.
The two women who had both taught English at Destrehan High School were taken into custody in September 2014 after the teenage victim allegedly had a threesome with them in Respess' apartment in Kenner.
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Shelley Dufresne (right), 33, and fellow teacher Rachel Respess, 25 (left), have been charged in connection to an alleged incident involving group sex with a 16-year-old boy last year
Dufresne, a mother of three, took a plea deal in April 2015 (pictured) to avoid jail time in St Charles Parish
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ShareThis past April, Dufresne pleaded guilty to a count of obscenity in St Charles Parish in order to avoid prison time there or having to register as a sex offender.
As part of the plea deal, Dufresne was ordered to surrender her teaching license, undergo mental health treatment and stay away from the victim and his family.
Initially, both Respess and Dufresne, a married mother-of-three, were charged with one count each of carnal knowledge of a juvenile.
Charging documents released in the case this week indicated that Dufresne allegedly had two sexual encounters with the 16-year-old boy on August 22 and September 19 of last year, reported The Advocate.
Respess' defense attorney, Jeffrey Smith, said in March that his client was intoxicated and never had ‘consensual sex' with the minor.
According to prosecutors, Dufresne had an ongoing affair with the 16-year-old whom she taught at the high school in Destrehan, a sleepy commuter town west of New Orleans.
The threesome involving Dufresne, Respess and the teen allegedly occurred at Respess' Kenner apartment on September 12, after Dufresne picked up the boy from a Friday Night Lights high school football game.
How they met: The unidentified 16-year-old victim was a student in Dufresne's English class last year. Respess taught the same student English the year prior
The threesome involving Dufresne and the teen allegedly occurred at Respess' Kenner apartment (pictured) in September 2014
The teachers were caught after the boy told friends that he was sleeping with them, police say. Word soon traveled around the high school campus and school authorities brought in the cops.
Since her arrest on September 30, 2014, Dufresne has remained free on bond. While she has been under house arrest during this time, the rules of the sequester have been loosened so that she can attend therapy sessions, Jazzercize classes and help drive her three young children to school and extracurricular activities.
If convicted of the charges she's now facing in Jefferson Parish, Dufresne could face up to 20 years in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Repress could be looking at up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.
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