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Brianne Altice Blames Low Self-Esteem, Flirtatious Victims For Sex Abuse — Now Facing 30 Years

By Shelley Hazen
Published on: 00:21 PST, Jul 10, 2015

Brianne Altice, a 36-year-old former high school teacher, has blamed self-esteem, a bad marriage, and three flirtatious male students for a series of sexual indiscretions that have now earned her a 30-year prison sentence.

Brianne, then an English teacher at Davis High School in Utah, befriended the three boys — then aged 16 and 17 — and began kissing one between classes, the Associated Press added. These encounters soon escalated to sex. Another of the boys considered Brianne his girlfriend during their year-long relationship.

Evidently, “Who is Ms. Altice sleeping with now?” had become a common refrain in hallways at school, according to a lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents.

“I’m human and I messed up during a very vulnerable point in my life,” Altice during her trial, ABC4 reported. “During the time I was going through feelings of rejection, no sense of belonging, abandonment, fear and was bound by emotional chains that just kept getting thicker and tighter. I descended on a very slippery slope and hit the bottom.”

A mom of one of Brianne’s victims wasn’t sympathetic to whatever personal turmoil led her to abuse her son. She told the court that he was irretrievably damaged psychologically and emotionally by the sexual relationship, and testified that Altice’s own children are also victims.

Brianne initially faced 14 felonies, including rape, but was sentenced with up to 30 years in prison for three felony counts of forcible sexual abuse. Before receiving her sentence, Altice asked the court for mercy, telling Judge Thomas Kay that she’s harmless and wouldn’t repeat her crime

“Please give me a chance to continue building my life with my loved ones. There’s a real person with real children and a real family behind it all… My children need their mother back. I’m not a risk. I’m not violent. I’m not a threat to anyone.”

Trouble is, when Altice was initially arrested on charges related to two of the victims, she had sex with the third while out on bail, The Salt Lake Tribune added. That’s when she was fired. Her husband later filed for divorce and petitioned for custody of their child.

Kay wasn’t sympathetic, reminding Altice that, as the adult, she could have put the brakes on the inappropriate encounters, and saying that only prison would inspire her to change. He also noted that, whether male or female, perpetrators are, in his mind, equal under the law.

“I have to say to society, when a female or a male teacher does this to children, this is going to happen,” he said.

That point was made over and over again — that the three boys Altice abused are indeed victims, Deputy Davis County Attorney Cristina Ortega argued.

“Society for some reason says ‘Well they’re boys, they’re men.’ This would be any kid’s fantasy.. It’s not….I think the message the court needs to send today is that gender is not the issue here, conduct is.”

Brianne’s attorney wasn’t surprised by the sentencing and does not plan to file an appeal.

[Photo Courtesy Twitter]

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