Former 'Rookie Teacher of the Year' pleads guilty to 6 sex crimes against 14-year-old student, avoids prison sentence

A Florida woman – previously named the "Rookie Teacher of the Year" – admitted to committing sex crimes against a 14-year-old student. However, the disgraced teacher was still able to avoid going to prison.

Former middle school drama teacher, Brittiny Lopez-Murray, pleaded guilty to three counts of lewd and lascivious battery, one count of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between the age of 12 and 16, and two counts of electronic transmission harmful to minors, according to Miami-Dade court records.

In the plea deal, Lopez-Murray avoids going to prison. She was sentenced to two years of community control plus 10 years of probation, must register as a sex offender, and must attend a program for mental disorder sex offenders.

Prosecutors said the plea deal was approved by the victim's family.

Lopez-Murra, 33, is a former Hialeah Middle School drama teacher who was awarded the school’s “Rookie Teacher of the Year” honor in 2017.

Lopez-Murray abused one of her teen students, who she previously taught in seventh and eighth-grade classes, according to the affidavit. The student was reportedly in high school when the child sex abuse occurred.

Lopez-Murray started the relationship with the teen in August 2021.

According to People magazine, "The teacher and her former student then met up at a local Starbucks for breakfast and she later sexually abused him in her white Jeep, including after she picked him up from basketball practice and from his home, the affidavit had said."

The boy allegedly told police that they had engaged in multiple sex acts in her car, including in the parking lot at a mall and a grocery store.

The pair exchanged texts about "how much they enjoyed the sex with each other," the affidavit stated.

Lopez-Murray allegedly sent her former student a "long text message, where she expressed her feelings towards him and how she felt about him,” according to an arrest affidavit.

However, the boy's sister became suspicious when she noticed her brother was spending a lot of time on his cell phone and not allowing anyone to see what he was doing, court documents said.

As Blaze News previously reported, The sister allegedly took possession of the phone and saw the "explicit text messages and photos" sent between the boy and the teacher. The sister then alerted her father about the sexual text messages.

The affidavit read: "The defendant also groomed, enticed, encouraged the victim to send child pornography images by writing things such as, 'perfect, and yum.'"

Lopez-Murray was arrested in October 2021.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools terminated her employment after she was arrested.

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