Theopulus Gordon could have prevented the death of Eric Robinson last September, but he didn’t.FORT WAYNE – Though an earlier attempt to convict her ended in a mistrial, a 29-year-old former teacher pleaded guilty Thursday, admitting to having sex with a neighbor boy.
Kristi N. Metzger, also known as Kristi N. Mireles, of Hoagland, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of sexual misconduct with a minor. As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, she will serve no time in prison but instead be given a suspended sentence of 10 years with four years on probation.
But because of the nature of the charge, she will have to register as a sex offender for 10 years. She will be allowed to have contact with her own children, according to court documents.
In April, prosecutors charged Metzger, a former teacher at Village Elementary in East Allen County Schools, with having sex with a boy who lived on her street. The teen was never her student, and Metzger resigned from the district in May after having been placed on leave. She had been placed on leave before the charges were filed last April.
A trial on three charges of sexual misconduct with a minor ended in a mistrial in November when the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
During the trial, the teen testified he often went to Metzger’s home to hang out with her son, a few years younger than he. In April 2010, the teen went to the home saddened by injuries his best friend suffered during an ATV accident. He found out his friend died, and Metzger offered him three or four beers and then suggested they go outside to the garage.
There, the teen said, she asked him whether he wanted to have sex with her. He said yes, and they had sex on a couch, the teen said.
The teen said he confided to some of his friends at school about what took place but didn’t tell his parents or any other adult because he didn’t want Metzger to get in trouble.
But when he had a falling-out with a female friend, she told a school guidance counselor what was going on, according to testimony. During the trial, Metzger’s attorney, Robert Gevers, suggested the allegations were the product of an adolescent fantasy, existing only in the teen’s head.
When she spoke during her guilty plea hearing Thursday, Metzger spoke in a barely audible voice, answering questions posed by Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull and Gevers so quietly she could not be heard in the gallery.
She will be sentenced next month.
