Former Alabama Substitute Teacher Sentenced To Prison For Sexual Relations With Underage Students

A former substitute teacher in Alabama was sentenced to state prison for having sexual relations with two students.

Whitney Mizzell, 32, pleaded guilty to three counts of performing deviant acts with both the students, the St. Clair Times reported. The students were not identified, considering they were minors when the incidents happened.

Circuit court Judge Bill Weathington pronounced a ten-year split sentence. The sentences will be served concurrently for the charges.

Mizzell will be placed at the Alabama Department of Corrections for two years, followed by three years of supervised probation. If she violates probation, then she could spend the remainder of the term in prison.

Mizzell previously worked as a substitute teacher in the St. Clair County system. She was apprehended on July 31, 2019, after being accused of several counts of sexual intercourse with two students, the New York Daily News reported.

The school superintendent Mike Howard stated that Mizzell was hired through a third party agency and was never a direct employee of the school district.

The names of the students remain undisclosed as they were younger than 19 when the incidents took place.

She previously faced upwards of 20 years in prison for the felony counts before pleading guilty to the charges, the New York Post reported.

It is not the only case of teacher impropriety in recent times. In June, a Wooster High School choir teacher, Emily Patterson, was indicted on felony sexual battery charges. Patterson was accused of sexual conduct with a 17-year-old student and it was alleged that it happened on school property, the Daily Record reported. According to the Wooster School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Tefs, Patterson was hired in 2012 and the choir teacher resigned from her position in June 2020. Dr. Tefs indicated that he had never heard of any complaints during the teacher’s eight years as an employee, and that is why no one saw it coming, Cleveland 19 News reported.