Discovering that your partner has been unfaithful is one of the worst things that can happen to you in a relationship. You’ve shared your life, hopes and dreams for the future with them, and they’ve betrayed your trust by deciding that someone else is more worthy of their affection.
But if you’ve ever been cheated on, it’s highly unlikely that your partner left you for a 14-year-old schoolboy.
Sadly, however, this nightmare situation became a reality for 26-year-old Stephanie Peterson’s husband, 31-year-old Brandon, when she was arrested in New Smyrna, Florida yesterday for having an affair with one of her middle school students.
The science teacher was exposed by her student after he confided in his parents about their illicit affair.
According to Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the married teacher would frequently pick the 14-year-old up in her car before spending hours at a time with him. She also bought her student marijuana and “a bowl to smoke it in”.
The day before her arrest, the 26-year-old resigned from her job at New Smyna Beach Middle School.
When interviewed about the affair, the student revealed that it began after Stephanie began to send him explicit photographs of herself on the popular social media app Snapchat in November of last year.
Stephanie has been married to Brandon, a firefighter, since 2015, and she is currently being held on a $25,000 bond.
The teacher is charged with lewd or lascivious battery and one count of transmitting harmful materials to a child.
The boy reportedly told his parents about the relationship because his grades were beginning to suffer because of it.
The teenager had kept silent until now because Stephanie had told him that he couldn’t tell anyone about their relationship.
Sheriff Michael Chitwood told CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG-TV that the boy became Stephanie’s student last year and became her teacher’s aide this year – a change no doubt influenced by the fact that they were having a sexual relationship.
Amazingly, the boy’s parents didn’t immediately contact the police when they found out about the relationship. Instead, they warned Stephanie to end it with their son in January, and it was only when she failed to do so that they got law enforcement involved.
“The parents confronted the teacher about breaking off the relationship,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in an interview with Click Orlando. “We believe sometime in January, they either resumed or continued the relationship. At that point, the family came to the police.”
“[Predators] put them in situations where they gain their trust, they gain their confidence and then here you go again,” said Chitwood. “You have another person who’s in a position of power, who abuses that power and is abusing a young student.”
We hope that Stephanie’s victim does not suffer lasting psychological trauma as a result of the abuse he suffered.
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