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| Teacher who had affair, 2 kids with youth leaving prison |
| By Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| Published: 08/03/2004 |
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As Mary Kay Letourneau leaves prison today, she faces registering as a Level 2 sex offender, a court order to stay away from the student she was convicted of raping and the renewed glare of media attention from all over the world. Seven years after she pleaded guilty to two counts of child rape, the former teacher's illegal relationship with the 12-year-old - which ultimately produced two children - still seems to fascinate. Letourneau's friends, lawyers involved in the case and officials at the Washington State Department of Corrections say they've been fielding daily telephone calls from the Today Show, Oprah, Primetime, Inside Edition, a British magazine and television stations in France and Germany. Her release from the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor is also big news to what bills itself as her authorized Web site: www.marykayletourneau.com. And Vili Fualaau, the former student who fathered two children with Letourneau before she was sent to prison in 1998, has gotten himself an agent. One source familiar with the case said Fualaau, now 21, has hired a lawyer to ask a judge to lift an order that prohibits Letourneau from seeing or calling him so that they can discuss raising their children. Fualaau's mother is bringing up their daughters, who are now 5 and 7. The relationship began when Letourneau was a 34-year-old teacher at Shorewood Elementary School in Burien, Wash., a married mother of four. Fualaau was almost 13. What they both called love the law clearly defines as child rape. It was a crime that sparked debate about a possible double standard for a sex offender who some said wouldn't have garnered any sympathy if she were a man. Letourneau, 42, is excited to go free but realizes that "life has gone on while she's been locked up," said lawyer David Gehrke, who used to represent her and still visits her in prison. By law, Letourneau must register as a sex offender within 24 hours of her release. She is expected to live somewhere in King County. The county Sheriff's Office notifies neighbors that a sex offender is moving into the area if the person has been deemed Level 2 or Level 3, meaning a moderate or high risk to reoffend, according to Sgt. John Urquhart. Letourneau has been classified as a Level 2 sex offender. |
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