A married former high school teacher has met her fate, months after pleading guilty to charges that she had unlawful sexual relations with a 14-year-old minor on the day of her graduation.
Michelle Solis, 46, of California, was sentenced last month to the maximum penalty of four years in prison after pleading guilty to having sex with a minor and sending damaging photos to the minor.
Prosecutors said Solis “friended” the 14-year-old Sycamore Junior High School student on Instagram in June 2021 and sent her four explicit photos of herself in the weeks leading up to her graduation.
Then, on the day of his graduation, Solis, an educator with 20 years of experience, had sex with the boy on the day of his graduation inside a locked classroom, the Butte County District Attorney’s Office said.
Michelle Solis, 46, a married former high school teacher, was sentenced last month to four years in prison for having sex with a 14-year-old boy.
Over time, rumors about Solis began to circulate in Gridley, a town about 30 miles south of Chico, as did some of the explicit photographs of the middle-aged educator.
The rumors and explicit material, which eventually reached local parents, prompted police to continue their investigation, which included contacting the boy.
Authorities found the couple’s messages and four explicit photographs of Solís on the boy’s phone.
They also discovered that Solís ordered the victim to delete her ‘communications.’ The Sacramento Bee reports.
Solis was finally arrested last November, but was quickly released on $15,000 bail.
She had been arrested last November after officers discovered she had sent explicit messages to the boy on social media in the weeks leading up to his graduation.
The incident reportedly occurred on eighth-grade graduation day in 2021 in a locked classroom at Sycamore Junior High School in Northern California.
In court, Solis’ attorney asked Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Deems to grant his client probation, citing the incident as just “an act.” according to a press release from the District Attorney’s Office.
But prosecutors fiercely disputed that characterization.
They argued that the 29-year age difference between Solis and the boy, his “special treatment” toward the victim at school, his position as a trusted member of the community and his pattern of contact with the victim amounted to “grooming.”
Prosecutors said he should therefore face the maximum penalty allowed under California law.
He asked Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Deems to grant his client probation, citing the incident as just “an act”
Deems agreed.
“The way the crime was carried out demonstrated criminal sophistication as the defendant groomed the victim into a situation of sexual contact,” he said. according to KRCR.
‘The court finds that there is a factual basis for the statement and finds the defendant guilty of that offence.’
Solis must now register as a sex offender and was ordered to stay away from her former student for 10 years, Deems ruled.
Community members said they were left “shocked,” “horrified” and feeling “manipulated.”
Community members in court said they were “shocked,” “horrified” and felt “manipulated” by Solís’ actions.
They said his crime had had a detrimental effect on the close-knit community.
But now they hope that with the ruling they will be able to rebuild and ensure the safety of the district’s schoolchildren.
Solís has 60 days from July 18 to appeal the decision.
