Former teacher pleads guilty in teen-sex case
Anna Patton. PHOTO COURTESY DCDC
A former English teacher at Lamar High School has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting one of her teen-age students, according to the S.C. Attorney General’s Office.
Anna Patton, who was arrested in early 2020 after she was accused of illicit sexual conduct with one of her students, pleaded guilty May 9 before S.C. Circuit Judge Paul Burch, said Robert Kittle, a spokesman for Attorney General Alan Wilson.
He told news media that Patton was sentenced to five years in prison, suspended to 30 days’ incarceration, followed by three and a half years’ probation. Patton has not worked for the Darlington County School District since her arrest.
At the time she was arrested, Patton had only been working at Lamar High about six months. Warrants alleged that Patton engaged in sexual intercourse and other sexual acts with the student “multiple” times. The warrants alleged these incidents took place “in the Lamar area” between Oct. 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2019.