A now-former elementary school nurse, who tried to silence a teen she sexually abused by offering him $2,000 to pay off his car loan, has now admitted her guilt.
47-year-old Tina Maria Sumner was arrested on September 2017 in Jefferson County, Missouri. At the time of her arrest, Sumner did not admit to any wrongdoing and was released without any charges being filed.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the initial arrest came after the teen reported that he had sex with the teacher eight times in 2015. The locations included Sumners home, his home, and a building with Fox School District.
Three months after her initial arrest, things began falling apart for Sumner. According to a court record, the teenage boy’s mother called the police and told them Sumner had sent them a $2,000 check to pay off his car loan in exchange for dropping the allegations.
In March Sumner was charged with victim tampering and having sex with a student under the age of 16.
On Friday in a plea agreement, Sumner pleaded guilty to one count of victim tampering and two counts of statutory rape and faced a seven-year prison sentence, if convicted.
The terms require her to register as a sex offender. However, rather than immediately impose the seven-year sentence, the agreement recommends Sumner for a 120-day sex-offender program while in custody, after which she could be evaluated and return to face a judge, who could keep her jailed or release her on probation for the sex offenses.
Sumner is scheduled for formal sentencing on October 25th.
