7:45 a.m.: Ex-religion teacher sentenced

The Associated Press

March 03, 2008 07:47 am

— FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A former religious education teacher at a Catholic parish has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for molesting three young boys and a teen with mental disabilities.
Michelle VanMeter, 35, was sentenced in Allen Superior Court on two counts of child molesting and one count each of sexual misconduct with a minor and sexual battery. She pleaded guilty in January.
VanMeter, who formerly taught at St. Jude Catholic Parish in Fort Wayne, was arrested in September in connection with sexual encounters she had with a friend’s three sons from June 2006 to April 2007.
VanMeter previously admitted in court to molesting a then-13-year-old boy, as well as having sexual contact with the boy’s two older siblings, one 15 and an older brother who is a deaf adult with mental disabilities. She also acknowledged molesting another boy who was 12 at the time.
Judge Fran Gull, who sentenced VanMeter Friday, called her actions “calculated and intentional.”
“This was not one isolated incident of poor judgment on your part,” Gull said.
Defense attorney Bart Arnold argued for a lenient sentence, saying that the woman suffered from depression and molested the children because she somehow believed it was a positive thing.
“My intentions were never to hurt anyone,” VanMeter said Friday.
After VanMeter gave birth to a baby in June, a paternity test revealed with 99.9 percent certainty that the 15-year-old was the father, according to court documents.
VanMeter said she wanted to assume the responsibility of raising her daughter, but Gull refused to consider that a factor in her favor during sentencing.