Teacher Avoids Prison for Performing Oral Sex on 14-Year-Old

A Bronx, New York, public school teacher pleaded guilty to performing oral sex on a 14-year-old boy, but will not serve any jail time or lose her teaching license.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Orbus promised Dori Myers, 29, who taught social studies at The New School for Leadership and the Arts, would avoid prison for performing multiple criminal sex acts on the 14-year-old on several occasions in exchange for her guilty plea, the New York Post reported.

The judge agreed to sentence Myers to ten years’ probation and must register as a sex offender for committing the class D felony.

Orbus also allowed Myers—whose husband is an officer with the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office—to make her guilty plea a day before her scheduled hearing.

Prosecutors were calling for Orbus to sentence Myers to two years in prison and revoke her New York state teaching license.

Myers’ attorney, Andrew Stoll, said the New York City Department of Education would fire Myers, but requested that the judge not revoke her teaching license so she could have a future career teaching adults.

“There is a possibility that she could teach adults now or in the future and we want to preserve that possibility,” Stoll said. “She still is a talented teacher and has those skills, and I don’t see any reason to destroy her ability to make a living and to contribute to society in a positive way.”

Authorities heard about the teacher’s misconduct when the victim—who is believed to have been one of Myers’ students—told his classmate, who then notified school officials, police said.

Once school officials notified authorities, police arrested Myers in January. She initially pleaded not guilty to the sexual misconduct charges against her.

Orbus set Myers’ sentencing hearing for September 12 and ordered her to immediately begin her probation.

Penalties for other teachers who have been convicted of sexually assaulting their students range from probation with no prison time to many years in prison.

One Arkansas teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with four male students also avoided prison when a judge sentenced her in March to 42 months of probation.

But another teacher from Texas received a 110-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to nine counts of sexual misconduct for sexually abusing two students.