Samantha Ciotta pleaded guilty to having sex with a student at Beaumont High School in Beaumont, Calif., where she was a teacher. However, the plea deal offered by the California prosecutors allows her to avoid jail time and Ciotta won’t have to register as a sex offender. Putting a cherry on top of the double standard, in a few years, she may be able to re-apply to teach again.
Double standards abound, tis true. One such double standard is how female teachers who have sex with a student are viewed by society versus male teachers who have sex with a student. Many people, especially men, scoff at the notion that teenage boys have been sexually assaulted if a female teacher had sex with them. Samantha Ciotta is the latest demonstration of this.
Ciotta’s punishment includes wearing an ankle bracelet monitoring her whereabouts for 180 days, 90 hours of community service, and zero contact with unrelated minors. Based on the details of her crime, Ciotta is getting off easy. Patch reports:
Ciotta was charged after a Snapchat video surfaced showing the former Beaumont High English teacher partying with minor students wearing a t-shirt and “panties,” according to documents obtained by Patch. When police arrested Ciotta, they said they believed there were more possible victims. Documents alleged that a different student boasted to his friends: “Yes … Bro, I’m gettin’ in deep … been f—— (Ciotta) and getting threesomes for the past couple weeks (at her house).”
Police served multiple search warrants in connection to the case to collect evidence, including collecting DNA samples from the woman’s home and SUV where she allegedly had sex with the boy, according to a declaration in support of a search warrant.
In an interview with authorities, the boy said he “recieved oral sex from her several times,” the document states. Ciotta faced one count of oral copulation with a minor, a charge that was dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Having the one count of oral copulation with a minor dropped is what enabled Ciotta to avoid registering as a sex offender. Riverside County District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Hall said, “This was the appropriate plea agreement to the charges we believe we would be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury.”
The grandmother of the boy disagrees. “I don’t understand; they know she slept with him more than that. They didn’t just sneak away three times or five times.”
In fact, the grandmother had warned the school that something was going on when her grandson was a freshman. Now a seventeen-year-old junior, the boy is suing the school for failing to protect him.
We should all be able to agree that adults should not have sex with kids. We should be able to agree that neither adult men nor adult women should have sex with kids. Reading the details of Ciotta’s crime reveals a pattern that goes beyond just sleeping with a student. Based on the allegations, Samantha Ciotta is a sexual predator who should be classified as such. If she were a man, she would undoubtedly be imprisoned and registered as a sex offender.
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