CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) — The high school athletic trainer accused of having sex with a 17-year-old Monacan High School student pleaded guilty Thursday to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Kristin Beck, 30, was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with six months suspended. The judge said Beck crossed a line and hoped the jail sentence would deter others from making similar bad choices.
Beck had no comment for reporters when she was released from custody just hours after being sentenced.
According to prosecutors, Beck exchanged phone numbers with the high school student last October after he was injured playing football.
Prosecutor B.J. McGee said the pair then sent sexually explicit text messages until they arranged to meet at the teen's house. That's where he said they first hugged and kissed. But McGee said the next time the two met at the home, they had sex.
However, McGee said Beck did not realize the student had recorded the sex act on his cell phone.
Officials said Beck first tried to deny the allegations, but confessed when police told her about the video the student recorded, which showed Beck's wedding ring.
"You have the public humiliation. You have the lost of a career. You have the loss of a marriage -- and essentially, the loss of her place in the community, so she really has suffered,” Ed Riley, Beck's attorney, said.
Riley described his client as a victim, who was a hard worker with no criminal background. He said Beck made a mistake calling the 17-year-old the aggressor.
"She should've known better," Riley said. "But he went after her and because where she was in her life, she succumbed to those advances."
However, Riley's defense angered one man, who is close to the teen's family.
"He is a minor. Whether in several months he's going to be 18 or not, it doesn't matter. By the law, he is a minor,” the family member said.
While the man said he thinks Beck should have received more jail time, he fell short of saying Beck took advantage of the teen.
"Any 17-year-old, of course they’re going to act on it because it’s their impulse," the man said. "His actions are wrong as well. But the fact is, she is an adult.”
Beck, who surrendered her license as an athletic trainer, was a private contractor not employed by Chesterfield County Public Schools.
“Chesterfield Police notified the school division October 24, 2013 of a community investigation involving an employee of Chippenham and Johnston Willis Hospitals, Inc. This community investigation did not involve anything occurring on school property,” Chesterfield Schools Spokesman Shawn Smith said in a statement following Beck's arrest.
Beck’s attorney said since the crime is a misdemeanor, she will only serve half of her suspended sentence, which is three months.
Beck was released on bond pending the outcome of her appeal.
