A Maryland teacher who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for grooming her middle school student into a sexual relationship will only serve one year behind bars.
The Montgomery County Police Department began investigating Melissa Marie Curtis, 32, in October 2023 after an adult man came forward to report that she had abused him when she was his teacher in 2015, officials said.
At the time of the offenses, Curtis was 22 years old and had been working at Montgomery Village Middle School for two years, as well as Lakelands Park Middle School in Gaithersburg.
Curtis, of Upper Marlboro, was accused of supplying alcohol and marijuana to the 14-year-old victim and initiating predatory sexual encounters at school, in her vehicle, and even in her mother’s home for several months, Breitbart News reported at the time of her November 2023 arrest.
After turning herself in to police on November 7, 2023, Curtis was charged with sexual abuse of a minor and multiple counts of third- and fourth-degree sexual offenses, Fox 5 DC reported.
She pleaded guilty to the sex offense charges on June 20, and was sentenced to serve 30 years on Friday — with all but 12 months suspended.
Unless she violates her five years of probation or the rules that come with being a registered sex offender, Curtis will only serve one year of jail time.
Part of her conditions are to refrain from unsupervised contact with minors other than her own children, according to Fox 5 DC.
