School: Mount Clemens High School

County & State: Lapeer County, Michigan

Name of Teacher / Perpetrator: Rachael Lauren Smith

Age of Teacher: 24

Month/Year of Arrest: June 2015

Month/Year of Sentencing: October 2015

News Source: Macomb Daily

Rachael Lauren Smith, 24, formerly a teacher at Mount Clemens High School, was sentenced to serve 270 days in Lapeer County Jail after being convicted of one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 17-year-old student. Smith, of Imlay Township was arraigned in June in Lapeer County District Court on three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student and furnishing alcohol to a minor. She was released on a $10,000 personal bond. Although the age of consent is 16 in Michigan, state law prohibits teachers from engaging in sex with students regardless of age. According to the Macomb Daily article, during plea negotiations, the prosecutor’s office dropped three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student and furnishing alcohol to a minor. Had Smith been convicted on the third-degree CSC, she would have faced up to 15 years in prison. The fourth-degree criminal sexaul conduct is considered a high-court misdemeanor, but treated as a felony for law enforcement purposes. Smith had no prior criminal history.