Teacher Erica Ginnetti sentenced to 30 days in jail for tryst with student

Crime and punishment: Erica Ginnetti, 35, has been sentenced to 30 days, house arrest and probation for having sex with a 17-year-old student

A disgraced Pennsylvania math teacher has been sentenced to 30 days in jail, house arrest and probation for having sex with a 17-year-old student and sending him X-rated photos.

Erica Ann Ginneti, 35, a married mother of three from Philadelphia, pleaded guilty in December to institutional sexual assault and disseminating sexually explicit materials to a minor.

The former math and calculus teacher at Lower Moreland Township School District had been facing seven to 14 years in prison, but on Friday Judge Garrett Page sentenced her to 3-23 months, including the first 30 days in jail and the next 60 on house arrest.

She also faces three years’ probation, 100 hours of community service and will have to register as a sex offender for the next 25 years, according to The Intelligencer. Ginneti’s jail terms begins April 10.

In court Friday, Mrs Ginneti wept as she read a letter of apology in hopes of offering the victim 'closure for this nightmare.'

Prosecutors said the boy had seen his grades drop in his senior year and has been struggling with social interactions.

The former educator described for the court how she has reconciled with her family and embarked on a new career as a fitness instructor. In her time off, she volunteers at a church, reported Philadelphia Inquirer.

Judge Garrett Page told Ginneti he was certain she would continue to turn her life around, but he reminded her that her ill-thought actions had had devastating consequences.

'One bad day because of sexual hunger has resulted in all this avalanche of harm,' Page stated.

He also chastised her for sending her male student explicit photos and videos of herself, which he likened to ‘dangling candy’ in front of the boy.

The judge later clarified that he does not think the defendant is a 'bad human being,' but stated she must be punished for her ‘bad act.’

Ginnetti, pictured above with her husband, first approached her victim in May 2013 when she chaperoned the senior prom and invited him to come work out at her gym

Ginneti's attorney asked the judge to spare her jail time so she could care for her small children.

She was fired by Lower Moreland Township School District after her arrest in January.

According to investigators, the math and calculus teacher first approached the victim in May 2013 when she chaperoned the senior prom and invited him to come work out at her gym.

A few days later the 17-year-old responded to Ginnetti with a text message, and the two began communicating on a daily basis.

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The criminal complaint against Ginnetti says that over the next several months, she sent the minor sexually explicit text messages, photos depicting her wearing bikini, a thong and other underwear, and videos showing the woman undressing suggestively and performing a sexual act on herself, according to The Bucks County Courier Times.

According to officials, the illicit relationship culminated in July 2013 when Ginnetti and the student met for coffee in Starbucks and then drove to an industrial park to have sex in her car.

She then allegedly dropped her paramour back at the coffee shop and told him not to tell anyone about the encounter.

Authorities say the investigation began after they received a tip-off that students had been overheard discussing X-rated pictures showing a minor and Ginnetti doing 'sexual things.'

When police questioned the 17-year-old boy, he came clean about the affair and Ginnetti then also confessed to having a relationship with the student, police said.

Watch the full report on CBS Philly here. 

Two months after Ginnetti first met her 17-year-old victim at his prom in May 2013 they drove to an industrial park and had sex in her car

The 35-year-old, pictured above after her arrest in January 2014, will have to perform community service and register as a sex offender 

‘I would say that she treated her relationship with this student as she would have treated a relationship with an adult with whom she was involved,’ Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman told The Mercury News in January.

Police said they found several texts the lovers had exchanged discussing their July outing and one mentioning ‘a used condom that had been left in Ginnetti’s vehicle,’ according to the criminal complaint.

On the night of the alleged tryst, after he returned home, the student told police he got a text from Ginnetti asking him to ‘do it again.’

As part of her $50,000 bail condition in January, Ginnetti was forbidden from having unsupervised contact with any minors except for her own children, ages 8, 11 and 14. 

She also had to surrender her passport, and the authorities have been keeping track of her using a GPS device. 

As part of her $50,000 bail condition in January, Ginnetti was forbidden from having unsupervised contact with any minors except for her own children - aged 8, 11 and 14