‘Cheer Mom’ Sex Scandal Raises Question: How Old Is Old Enough?

Pottstown, Pennsylvania, “cheer mom” Iris Gibney is facing corruption of a minor, dissemination of explicit materials to a minor, and trespass by auto charges for her part in a November sex tryst with a 17-year-old male high school student.

Gibney, whose daughter is a cheerleader for Pottsgrove High School, is 42.

Many believe she is getting off easy with the charges in spite of the fact that she did have to post $50,000 bail, and she’s going home to an uncertain future with her husband and family.

Gibney’s husband said he feels betrayed and hurt, but is “just trying to keep his family together,” reports NBC Philadelphia.

In many areas, family of the unnamed minor would have the option to pursue statutory rape charges because the boy was a minor at the time of the sexual activity and the cheer mom was 25 years his senior.

The relationship was discovered when an Upper Pottsgrove Police officer said he found Iris Gibney and the teen “naked, having sex inside a parked car,” the news site reported on December 24.

The officer added that he witnessed Gibney “performing a sex act” on the teen as he approached the illegally parked automobile.

Gibney works as an associate at the King of Prussia Victoria’s Secret. At the time of her arrest, she had this to say.

“I’ve never been in trouble before. I can’t believe I did this. I have three children of my own — I am so, so sorry.”

The teen openly admitted that he and Gibney had been in a sexual relationship. His phone revealed that she had sent some “partially nude” photos to him, and most communications were conducted via Twitter, with some taking place in a public chat room.

What is saving the cheer mom from a statutory rape charge is the age of consent in Pennsylvania.

According to Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 18 Section 3122.1, consent is just 16 provided the older person is “four or more years older than the complainant and the complainant and the person are not married to each other.”

The federal law on age of consent is 18, so if this case had fallen under federal jurisdiction (i.e. applies only to sexual acts that involve travel between different states, countries, or on federal property), this could have been prosecuted as such.

But what do you think, readers? Is your typical 17-year-old mature enough to make this decision while understanding the full extent of the consequences? Should the cheer mom be held to higher standards and prosecuted to the maximum provision of the law?