A former Tualatin alternative school director was sentenced to more than eight years in prison this week, after being found guilty of raping and sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy.
Melissa Stephens, 56, was found guilty by a jury Monday afternoon in Washington County Court after a four-day trial. She was convicted of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sex abuse and one count of first-degree sodomy. Besides being sentenced to 100 months in prison, she will also have 20 years of post-prison supervision and be forced to register as a sex offender and undergo treatment. Judge Marco Hernandez also recommended that she never be allowed around children again.
At her sentencing hearing Tuesday, Stephens was quiet, wearing a prison-orange jumpsuit and handcuffs. She occasionally flashed a smile to her friends and family in the audience.
According to the criminal indictment files in the case, Stephens had sexual intercourse and other sexual contact with the boy multiple times between Jan. 1, 2002, and May 26, 2004, when he was between the ages of 11 and 13 years old. The Times does not name victims in sex-abuse cases.
According to court records, the boy was hesitant to tell anyone about the abuse. At first he just told a friend, records indicate, and much later his parents.
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