New details emerge about woman accused of having sex with former student
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A 26-year-old woman who had just quit her job as a middle school teacher who was arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student has been released from jail, CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG reports. Stephanie Peterson bonded out of jail Thursday night after a judge lowered her bond to $12,500.
Peterson had filed for divorce about two weeks before she was arrested, the station reports.
Previously, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said in a statement that the teen said Peterson also sent him nude photos.
Peterson, also known as Stephanie Ferri, was arrested on two counts of lewd or lascivious battery and one count of transmission of harmful materials to a minor, the sheriff's office said.
Peterson bonded out of jail Thursday night after a judge lowered her bond to $12,500.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the charges are disturbing.
"I think it's a good place for her," said Sheriff Chitwood. "You play them with drugs, you're in a position of power, 'Don't tell anybody, we're going to get in trouble. I'm going to make you the teacher's aide.' Basically, that young man, his childhood was stolen."
Investigators believe the relationship started in November. Chitwood told WKMG that the teen, who police only identified as an 8th grader, was Peterson's student last year and became her teacher's aide this year.
The teen told detectives on Tuesday that Peterson would occasionally pick him up at his home around 11 p.m. and drop him off between two and three hours later. The police were called after the teen told his parents about the relationship.
The teen told investigators that Peterson would give him marijuana and that his grades fell after the relationship began.
Peterson told the teen that the relationship had to be a secret or they would get into trouble, the sheriff's office said.