BENTONVILLE — A former Siloam Springs school teacher admitted Tuesday to having two sexual encounters with a 13-year-old boy who was a former student.
Mary Faith McCormick, 33, of Siloam Springs pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to sexual assault in the first degree, a Class A felony, which is punishable with a prison sentence ranging from 6 to 30 years.
Prosecutors agreed to reduce the charge from rape to sexual assault as part of a plea agreement reached between McCormick’s attorney Joel Huggins with Carly Marshall, deputy prosecutor, and Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecutor.
McCormick was arrested Aug. 13.
She was employed during the 2013-14 school year as a middle school teacher for the Siloam Springs School District. One of her students was a sixth-grader who turned 13 in January of that school year, according to Marshall.
Marshall told Circuit Judge Brad Karren that McCormick developed an unusually close relationship with the boy and the two began contacting each other via social media. The contact continued through the summer and McCormick had two sexual encounters with the boy, Marshall said.
One of the sexual encounters occurred at McCormick’s house and the other in a remote area after McCormick had picked the boy up late one night at a friend’s house, Marshall said.
McCormick agreed with Marshall’s description of her actions.
McCormick told the judge that she had not been coerced into accepting the plea offer. She also understood that she was waiving her rights to a jury trial and an appeal.
The judge accepted the plea agreement and McCormick’s guilty plea.
Her sentencing will be July 30. Details of McCormick’s sentence the were not discussed during the hearing.
McCormick will remain free on a $50,000 bond.
There were three conditions that McCormick must abide by until her sentencing: She must show up for her sentencing, she can not commit any other criminal acts and she can not have any contact with the victim.
The judge warned McCormick that if she violated any of the three conditions that it could void the plea agreement and then McCormick’s guilty plea would still stand and she would be sentenced by the judge.
Huggins declined to comment after the hearing.
Cearley declined to comment on McCormick’s exact sentence but said it “will be a term of years."
Cearley said the victim and his family are aware of the agreement and they are now relieved that a “horrible” period in their lives are ending.
McCormick’s jury trial was set to begin July 28.