Christel Gravlin pleads guilty

The case against a Lisbon teacher accused of having an affair with one her students will not be going to a Grand Jury, as she has agreed to plead guilty to the charges.

33-year-old Christel C. Gravlin is scheduled to enter the guilty plea March 3rd in St. Lawrence County Court, according to a report in the Watertown Daily Times this morning. Gravlin initially plead innocent in December to Rape 3rd Degree, Criminal Sex Act 3rd Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

Gravlin is accused of having oral sex and intercourse with a 15 year old male student on November 25th during the course of a relationship that lasted one to two weeks.

The affair came to light after an incident at a high school basketball game on November 30th, when, intoxicated, Gravlin made statements about an affair to a group of students and others who were sitting near her. Gravlin confirmed the affair in a three-page signed statement to police, attributing the affair to depression, alcohol, prescription drugs and pressure from the boy.

Gravlin is to plead guilty to a felony in satisfaction of all charges stemming from the alleged affair, according to District Attorney Nicole Duvé.

A guilty plea to a felony means automatic loss of her state teacher's license.

Gravlin, a married mother of two is a former beauty queen, having been chosen Miss St. Lawrence County Teen-Ager in 1990 at the age of 15 and was voted St. Lawrence County Dairy Princess the following year. She graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Potsdam in 2003 with a degree in literature, writing, and secondary education.

Newswatch 50

Note from Gag: She might have once been Dairy Princess but now she'd have to buy me a hell of a lot of booze to even make me consider letting her go downtown on me. However, I might still vote for her if there was a Rancid Milk Queen pageant.

Marla Meek receives sentence

By HATTIE SHERRICK-BURTON

Former South Beauregard High School teacher Marla K. Meek was sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to four counts of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile.

Meek, who was 34 at the time of committing the felonies, entered a guilty plea in December of 2007 to events that took place during the first half of September 2006 with a fifteen year old student who, according to court documents, was the son of friends of the teacher's family.

As stated in the written sentence by District Judge Herman I. Stewart, Meek, a mother of three, was sentenced to five years with the Department of Corrections on each count running concurrently, of which four years is suspended and she will be required to serve one year.

Upon Meek's release, she is to be placed on supervised probation for four years with numerous special conditions specified, including having no communication or contact with the victim or any member of his family, or unsupervised association any male juveniles, excluding her own children.

Upon her release, she is to seek out and obtain Court approved psychological group therapy for not less than three years.

Meek is required to pay a total fine of $1,500 plus court costs, and to make restitution to the parents of the victim for any cost of psychological evaluation or counseling up to the sum of $2,500, as well as a $55 monthly supervision fee to the Department of Probation and Parole.

Lastly, Meek is required to comply with all applicable provisions of the Louisiana State Sex Offender Registration Statute.

According to court documents, since entering her guilty plea in December, Meek's teaching certificate has been taken from her and her she will not be allowed to reenter the teaching profession.

Meek, who once received the designation of Teacher of the Year, had no prior criminal history.

Beauregard Daily News

Note from Gag: I sure wish I could find a picture of Marla. I'd love to see what the broad looks like.