Mary Kay
Letourneau
Letourneau's photo from
the Washington State Sex
Offender Information
Center, taken upon her
release from prison,
August 4,
2004.
Mary Fualaau (born
January 30,
1962
(1962-01-30)
(age 45),
formerly known as Mary Kay
Letourneau and Mary Katherine
Schmitz) is a former
schoolteacher infamous for having
two children with one of her
teenaged students. She was convicted
of
statutory rape and sentenced to
seven years in
prison.
Background
Mary Kay's father was
John G. Schmitz, a
Roman Catholic
U.S. Congressman from
Orange County, California and a
professor at Santa Ana College. He
was generally considered one of the
more
conservative members of the
House, and ran for
President of the United States
in
1972 on the conservative
American Independent Party
ticket.
Her mother
Mary Schmitz was a
homemaker and anti-feminist
activist. Mary Kay is one of seven
children born to John and Mary, and
she has two half-siblings that were
the result of a longtime affair
between her father and his mistress.
Another,
Joseph E. Schmitz, was appointed
Inspector General of the
Department of Defense by
George W. Bush. Mary Kay Schmitz
married Steve Letourneau on
June 30,
1984. The couple had two
daughters and two sons together.
The
teacher-student relationship
Letourneau first met
Vili Fualaau (born
June 26,
1983) when he was a student in
her second grade class at Shorewood
Elementary School in
Burien, Washington. He was eight
years old; she was 29. She was his
teacher again in the sixth grade,
and she had sex with him during the
summer of
1996, when he was 13. Her
husband became aware of the
situation and revealed it to family
members when he read their letters
to each other in February
1997. His cousin reported the
relationship to local child
protection services.
Legal
matters
On
February 26,
1997, Letourneau was arrested
for
statutory rape, called "child
rape" in Washington. Four months
later, she gave birth to Fualaau's
daughter, Audrey Lokelani. On
August 7,
1997, she pleaded guilty to two
counts of second-degree statutory
rape. She was sentenced to 89 months
in prison by Judge Linda Lau.
The prison term was suspended and
she was sentenced to serve six
months in
county jail and enroll in a
three-year sexual
deviancy treatment program. She
was released from jail early (January
1,
1998) for good behavior, and as
a condition was forbidden to see
Fualaau; however, on
February 3,
1998, police discovered
Letourneau in a car with Fualaau and
arrested her for violating the
conditions of her suspended
sentence. She had also failed to
comply with her sexual deviancy
treatment program. In the car police
found $6,500 in cash, baby clothes,
and a passport, indicating that she
planned to leave the country. The
original sentence of seven and a
half years was reimposed.
In March, 1998, prison officials
discovered that Letourneau was
pregnant with another child by
Fualaau. Letourneau and Fualaau's
second daughter, Alexis Georgia, was
born in Tacoma on
October 16,
1998. Hours after the birth,
Mary Kay Letourneau was returned to
prison. In November, 1999 Letourneau
was detained in solitary confinement
for six months because she smuggled
letters to Vili out of the prison.
In January, 2001, Letourneau's
father died. She asked to attend his
funeral, but her request was denied.
Letourneau and her husband Steve
were divorced while she was in
prison in May,
1999, and Steve was given
custody of their four children. He
remarried and moved the family to
Alaska.
In
2000, Fualaau's family sued the
Highline School District and the
city of
Des Moines, Washington for
emotional suffering, lost wages, and
the costs of rearing his two
children, claiming the school had
failed to protect him from
Letourneau.[1]
The jury ruled against them and no
damages were awarded.
Life
after prison
Letourneau was released on
parole on
August 4,
2004. She will have to register
as a sex offender for the remainder
of her life unless a judge lifts
that requirement.
Two days later, Fualaau, who was
by then 21, applied to the court to
lift the no-contact order; the
request was granted. Letourneau and
Fualaau were married on
May 20,
2005 in the Seattle
suburb of
Woodinville at
Columbia Winery. Access to the
ceremony was strictly controlled by
the television show
Entertainment Tonight, which
paid for exclusive access. Although
best known as Mary Kay Letourneau,
she now goes by the legal name of
Mary Fualaau.
^
Anne Knopf
Mom Arrested For Sex With
Daughter's 13-Year-Old Boyfriend
|
VIDEO
|
|
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A former Wisconsin substitute
teacher has been charged with
sexual assault after allegedly
having an affair with her
daughter's 13-year-old former
boyfriend.
39- year-old Anne Knopf of
Prescott, Wisconsin was charged
with Sexual Assault of a Child
Under 16 in Pierce County
District Court Monday.
The charge is the result of a
four-month investigation into
the relationship between Knopf
and the boy.
The boy's parents became aware
of the relationship and notified
police in mid May.
She has been released on $25,000
bond.
Knopf has been ordered to
refrain from contacting the
victim.
She retained custody of her two
children.