“She was prepared for the sentence. It’s what she sought out frankly at the time she brought this to light with the Police Department,” Williamson said outside the courthouse.
Beck wore an orange jumpsuit with her hands bound behind her back and her head down as she heard the sentence.
“Nobody wants to go to prison, but the fact is, the day she chose to self-report, she knew she would go to prison and she did it anyway,” Williamson said.
Beck was originally charged with four counts of unlawful sex with a minor and one count of oral copulation with a minor, and faced up to seven years in prison. All but one of the charges were dropped as part of the plea deal, prosecutors said. A charge was added that required her to register as a sex offender.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Debra Archuleta declined to speak with news media outside the Burbank courthouse.
Beck, who has remained in custody since March 8, turned herself in to Burbank Police headquarters for allegedly having sex with the boy during a six-month period that ended in September, authorities said. She taught the boy for a brief period, but was not his teacher at the time of their sexual relationship, which consisted of “fleeting moments,” her lawyer said.
Burbank Police Sgt. Robert Quesada said the department was unaware of the crime until the mother of three confessed. Beck declined to post $175,000 bail throughout the ordeal, keeping her out of reach of the media.
What remains to be answered is why she risked losing her freedom, her career as a model teacher and her marriage, Williamson said.
