CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) - A judge suspended four years of a five-year prison sentence handed down to a former Chesterfield school bus driver who had a sexual relationship with a student. The judge "stayed the execution" of the sentence's fifth year. That means Tracy Allanson will serve no prison time provided she stays out of trouble.
"It's changed my son. She's taken his innocence away, it's taken his childhood away," the victim's mother Diane Bingham said outside of court.
"The state sentencing guidelines are what they are," said Chesterfield prosecutor Duncan Minton. "Sometimes they work for the Commonwealth, sometimes they work against us. Today they worked against us."
In February, Allanson plead guilty to taking indecent liberties with a minor. As part of her sentence, she will have to register as a sex offender, continue court-ordered counseling and stay away from the teenage victim.
During her trial Allanson, 44, said that in May 2009 she took the then 15-year-old student to a wooded area in Salem, Virginia where she performed a sex act on him. Allanson said she also allowed the teenager to perform a sex act on her.
She said she was not in love with the teen but knew he was infatuated with her and was more than happy to provide him with a sexual education.
The boy’s mother said she discovered the relationship through information on a computer. She found a thumb drive with pictures of Allanson in a folder labeled “Love of My Life.”
She also found three pairs of women’s underwear in the garbage.
In court Wednesday, Allanson cried in court while she read a statement, asking her victim and his family for forgiveness.
Allanson had been a school bus driver in Chesterfield since March of 2007.
