A 27-year-old female teacher at a juvenile mental-health center received a four-month, work-release jail sentence today for sexually assaulting a young male patient.
Michelle Leigh Tolar of Denver had been teaching English at the Jefferson Hills Residential Treatment Center for about two years when she had an affair with a 15-year-old patient for three months in early 2006. Investigators said they believe the affair was consensual.
Jefferson County District Judge Stephen Munsinger also sentenced Tolar to 10 years’ probation and ordered her to register as a sex offender.
The victim’s stepmother, whom The Denver Post is not identifying, told the judge that the teen has struggled with emotional and behavioral problems. “Then this happened, and he became worse. He tried to commit suicide,” she said. She asked for the strictest sentence possible.
The victim wasn’t present in court. But Tolar turned to the stepmother and said: “I hope that he is able to overcome any hurt or pain that I caused him.”
