A second teacher at a Georgia Christian school has been sentenced for sexually abusing the same 15-year-old boy as an older colleague had — moments after the sobbing teen had to be led from court while hyperventilating at the lasting trauma she caused.
Bonnie Elizabeth Brown, 26, was handed a 40-year sentence on Thursday, with a minimum of 15 years to be spent in prison – just weeks after another teacher, Sherri Delle Mauldin, 61, got 12 years in prison for repeatedly having sex with the same boy.
Mauldin got a lighter sentence after admitting the abuse, saving the boy the pain of a trial — which he tearfully told Brown she should have done, too, to save him much of his pain and humiliation, 11Alive reported.
“All you had to do was admit it,” he angrily told Brown in a haunting victim statement he was too overwhelmed to complete.
Before teaching there, Brown had been a straight-A valedictorian and homecoming queen at Nathanael Greene Academy — which has now been closed for good because of the scandal of the perverted teachers.
In court, the boy — now 19 — repeatedly broke down and hyperventilated as he said Brown’s refusal to admit having sex with him left him bullied and branded a liar.
He was ultimately too distressed to complete his victim statement, which was finished by an advocate after he was led hyperventilating from the courtroom, according to 11Alive.
His harrowing attempt to address the court showed just how damaging such abuse is, Assistant District Attorney Blayne May told the outlet.
“It’s a very cathartic moment, but it brings up a lot of the trauma and I think the judge and everyone in the courtroom saw the effect that these things have,” May said.
“I think there’s a stereotype that, ‘oh it’s a student and female teacher, it’s got to be fun,’” the prosecutor said. “I think everyone saw the traumatic impact it can have on kids.”
Brown refused to address the court before she was sentenced. However, her father, Charles Gregory Brown, painted her as a victim in the abuse since being charged.
“She has been violently sick … she can’t sleep she had migraines, for fear of what could happen, fearing that she would not be believed,” he said.
“I ask for leniency for Bonnie.”
May, the assistant DA, later praised the boy on “his courage for standing up, admitting and saying what happened to him” — and for the jury for letting “him have a voice.”
“The judge and jury by their verdict are sending a message; this community does not tolerate acts like that.
Brown was the first of the two teachers arrested in the scandal that led to the Christian school closing.
She was convicted on five counts of improper sexual contact by an educator.
Before sentencing Brown, Judge Stephen Bradley told the court, “We expect an individual put in certain positions to conduct themselves in a way that benefits the children in their care.”