a pregnant special needs teacher and soccer coach will be cooling her heels behind bars after she was convicted of a same-sex affair with one of her students.
emily lehneis, 30, had been initially charged with solicitation to the production of child pornography, unlawful contact with a minor, obscenity, institutional sexual assault, and corruption of minors.
as part of a plea deal inked in september, lehneis copped to one felony count of school – intercourse/sexual contact with student and one misdemeanour count of corruption of minors. the other charges were dismissed.
“she manipulated me and had total control. she used her marriage, family and career to keep me from saying anything,” the victim said in an impact statement read aloud by york county chief deputy district attorney taylor katherman, the york dispatch reported.
“i’m trying to get by each day with breathing techniques and trying not to cry.”
lehneis was contrite about her antics.
she told the victim: “i want … her family to know how sorry i am for what i did. i have no excuse for what i did, and i cannot understand how i let myself do what i did.”
the former soccer coach resigned last january and she was arrested in may.
according to reports, lehneis met the unnamed girl in 2022. at the time, the teenager was a soccer player who was 16 or 17 years old. that september, the relationship began developing, followed by kissing in the classroom, sexually explicit messages between teacher and student, and raunchy photos.