An ex-teacher at an all-girls school who had been sentenced to four months in jail for having a sexual relationship with a student was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday after admitting she ignored a judge’s order to not contact the teenager.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims, who initially suspended nearly all of a 15-year prison term for sexual assault, told Kelly O’Rourke that he had to come down “pretty hard” on her because she had called the girl more than 50 times since her initial sentencing.
“You had no intention of following these orders,” Sims told O’Rourke, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.
Sims said he listened to recordings of calls O’Rourke made to the girl from jail said the 42-year-old former teacher was being disrespectful toward the court. O’Rourke acknowledged making the calls and on Monday read a statement apologizing.
“I am remorseful, ashamed and regret my behavior in disrespecting the court’s orders,” she said.
O’Rourke and a school administrator were fired from Mount St. Mary Academy last year — O’Rourke for the relationship and a former athletic director for knowing about it but failing to report it. Kathy Grifffin, O’Rourke’s former domestic partner and the former athletic director, was sentenced to a year of probation after being convicted last month of failing to report the relationship.
The victim was 16 when the abuse began in 2010 and graduated from high school the next year at age 17. She is now an adult and Sims lifted the no-contact order.
Television station KATV reported that O’Rourke has had to register as a sex offender, provide a sample of her DNA and pay $5,000 in court costs. She was also obligated to testify against Griffin.
This article originally appeared on seattlepi
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