Nancy Leigh Ann Brann has been identified as the 44-year-old former Catholic school teacher who was sentenced to over two years in prison for sexually assaulting an underage student back in 2016.
According to Lincoln County Courthouse records, Brann — who was a teacher at Coastal Christian School in Waldoboro, Maine — has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for sexually assaulting a student.
Appearing in Maine court on Tuesday, March 27, Brann plead guilty to one count each of class A gross sexual assault and class C unlawful sexual contact.
While Brann was given a 12-year prison sentence, Superior Court Justice Daniel Billings 9.5 of those years suspended, meaning Brann will only have to serve 2.5 years.
In addition to her prison sentence, Brann must serve four years of probation.
Brann is just the latest in a string of education officials to be arrested and charged for sex-related crimes.
Since the beginning of 2019 alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida. Additionally, Texas teacher Meredith Null was arrested on similar charges.
As for why there has been an increase in teacher’s being charged with sex-related crimes over recent years, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.