Former Maryland Teacher Sentenced for Sexual Abuse of Student

A former middle school teacher from Montgomery County, Maryland was sentenced to one year in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a student. Melissa Curtis, aged 32, admitted to engaging in sexual activities with a 14-year-old student on over 20 occasions when she was teaching at Montgomery Village Middle School.

The incidents took place in 2015 when Curtis was 22 years old. According to charging documents, she had sexual intercourse with the student in various locations including a classroom, her car, and several residences, among them her mother’s home in Montgomery County. The court records also detailed that Curtis provided the student with alcohol and marijuana, which were consumed before some of these encounters.

Curtis’s case came to light in October 2023 when the student reported the abuse to police, leading to her arrest in November of the same year. She was charged with sexual abuse of a minor along with multiple counts of third- and fourth-degree sexual offenses. Curtis subsequently pleaded guilty in June 2024 to three counts of third-degree sex offenses.

The sentence handed down included 30 years, with all but 12 months suspended. Upon release, Curtis will be subjected to five years of supervised probation and must register as a sex offender for 25 years. Additionally, she is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with minors, except for her own children.

Prosecutors disclosed that Curtis frequently spent time alone with the student during an after-school program she supervised, which provided opportunities for the illicit encounters. Curtis had been employed as a teacher in Montgomery County for approximately two years, during which time she also taught at Lakelands Park Middle School.

The case underscores a broader societal concern regarding the safety and supervision of minors within educational settings. Authorities have reminded educational institutions of their responsibility to ensure rigorous safeguarding protocols to protect students from similar occurrences.