An award-winning Arkansas teacher has been sentenced to prison after admitting to having a sexual relationship with a student.
Leah Queen, 44, pleaded guilty to assault earlier this week after previously pleading not guilty.
Queen, an Oklahoma native, was a physical education teacher at Gentry Intermediate School in Gentry, near Fayetteville.
The attack happened 13 years ago in 2010, when the high school student was 17 and Queen was 31.
Although the age of consent in Arkansas is 16, teachers are not allowed to have sexual relations with students until they are 18 years old.
The former student explained in court documents how sexual contact between them began in the summer of 2010.
An Arkansas teacher, Leah Queen, 44, has been sentenced to 58 days in jail after admitting to having a sexual relationship with a student
Queen, who was a PE teacher, pleaded guilty to sexual assault earlier this week, even though the relationship with the 2010 student dates back 13 years
In 2019 she received a Golden Apple Award after being nominated by one of her students for the local television channel KNWA
The affidavit said Queen and the victim “engaged in deviant sexual activity” before the minor’s senior year of high school.
She had been on a camping trip when she kissed the victim. A diary of the student also describes several other instances of intimacy between the couple.
Queen had sex with the student in her office, her office bathroom at school and even at home, according to an affidavit.
The student’s parents, Queen’s ex-husband and another former school teacher all confirmed various details of the student’s allegations.
Queen, who was teaching grades 3-5 at the time of her arrest, had been a teacher in the Gentry School District for more than 20 years.
Queen had also undergone a massive transformation when it came to her weight
Queen was a gym teacher and embraced the role, losing half her body weight in 10 years
It’s a huge fall from grace for the former teacher who was named ‘Teacher of the Year’ at her school in 2022
An affidavit told of how Queen befriended the victim after a basketball game and when the pair began socializing outside of school hours.
Queen’s ex also reported seeing the victim sharing a bed with his ex-wife on several occasions.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren sentenced Queen to six years of state probation and sentenced her to 58 days in Benton County jail.
She was also ordered not to have any contact with the victim.
Queen, who was teaching grades 3-5 at the time of her arrest, had been a teacher in the Gentry School District for more than 20 years and had initially pleaded not guilty but later changed her plea.
Queen initially pleaded not guilty, but changed her plea to guilty
Queen was a gym teacher and embraced the role, losing half her body weight in 11 years
Queen is pictured with a current boyfriend who regularly appears in her social media posts
Queen will never be allowed to set foot in a classroom again. She must also register as a sex offender and must complete a sex offender treatment program
She also agreed never to work as a teacher again as part of the plea deal.
Queen must register as a sex offender and must complete a sex offender treatment program.
Queen had undergone a massive transformation in recent years as she embraced her role as a gym teacher, losing hundreds of pounds of weight over the course of a decade, going from 300 pounds to 165 pounds.
It’s a huge fall from grace for the former teacher who was named ‘Teacher of the Year’ at her school in 2022 and who received a Golden Apple Award in 2019 after being nominated for a local television station by one of her young students . KNWA.
“When I was a girl in second grade, I had a teacher who didn’t make me feel like a big deal. I just wanted to love my babies. I have a passion and drive for this and they love me too,” Queen told the station as she accepted her award.