Keri Ann Brekne will plead guilty

Keri Brekne shows just how really, really cool a teacher she is...

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - A middle school social studies teacher charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl accepted a tentative agreement Friday that she will plead guilty to five counts of aggravated indecent assault in exchange for two other charges being withdrawn.

Keri Ann Marie Brekne, 28, of the 2600 block of Madison Avenue in Bethlehem, waived her right to a preliminary hearing Friday before District Judge James Narlesky.

Brekne, a teacher at Lopatcong Township Middle School, was arrested in January and accused of abusing the girl between July and January.

The victim told authorities Brekne would drive her from her Warren County home to Brekne's Bethlehem home, where the abuse allegedly occurred.

Brekne, who is suspended from her teaching job with pay, was originally charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and corruption of minors. Prosecutors agreed to drop the involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corruption of minors charges in exchange for a guilty plea on four additional counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Pat Broscius said each count of aggravated indecent assault carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse carries up to 20 years in prison.

Brekne's attorney, Scott Wilhelm of Phillipsburg, said his client tentatively agreed to the plea because she wants to move forward.

"She's looking to try to resolve the matter in a way that allows her to get on with her life and to spare the victim any unnecessary stress," he said.

Brekne is also facing charges in New Jersey for allegedly assaulting the girl in Lopatcong Township between June and September. In that case, she is charged with second-degree sexual assault, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

The Star-Ledger

Note from Gag:

My goodness the world needs more heroes like Keri Ann Breckne. Yep, not only will she admit to her sex crime publicly but she's nobly doing so to spare her vulnerable, young victim any unnecessary stress!

I, for one, will spend the entire time of Keri's sentence reflecting on this remarkable woman and I'm almost positively sure her young friend will, too.

See this story for additional information.

Teacher Charged With E-Mailing Topless Photos To Student

She's being called the topless teacher.

A 27 year old Chesterfield woman who taught at a newly opened, private St. Charles County high school is facing a criminal charge for allegedly e-mailing topless pictures of herself to one of her students!

The former teacher, Melissa Moss, was fired from her job as an English teacher at the Barat Academy in Dardenne Prairie after the investigation began in November.

Court documents say in mid-November, Moss e-mailed two pictures of herself nude from the waist up to a 15 year old boy in her class.

School officials say the parents of the teen found the pictures while patrolling his internet activity and went to police as well as the school.

A profile has come up on Facebook.com supporting Moss- people posting messages including we want her back at Barat Academy.

We talked with the Robert and Kelly Pfeiffer- their son was in Moss' class.

They say they thought she was a great teacher and they're stunned by the charges.

"It is very disturbing and you know it's kind of a sign of the times the way we live with a lot of internet access and Face book and things like that. As a parent you have to be on constant vigil to make sure, you have to know what your kids are getting into," said Robert Pfeiffer.

His wife, Kelly, added, "I was kind of shocked because I worked with her a lot as far as one on one talking to her you know about his grades and keeping up with them and I thought she was a really nice teacher. So when this came about, it really shocked me."

Barat Academy is a private, independent catholic high school that opened last September.

The school's president, Debby Watson, said of the situation, "it's frustrating, it's upsetting, it's disappointing. It's all of those emotions. But what I'm most proud of is that parents did the job they needed to do. And they work in partnership with the school."

The school sent letters home to parents alerting them to what was happening back in November when the investigation was just beginning.

Officials at Barat say Moss did not use school systems to send the pictures.

The charge against her is a class A misdemeanor- she could face up to a year in jail and a one thousand dollar fine.

Video at KTVI

Note from Gag:

All I can say is thank Allah she didn't use the school email system to send those topless pics. If she had, police would have had to search their whole website and there's no telling what the other teachers at that school were up to that semester.