EX-- SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST GETS JAILTIME FOR HAVING SEX WITH BOY

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Ex-school psychologist gets jailtime for having sex with boy
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Friday, February 6, 2009 3:31 AM EST

By Dave Canfield
The Record

TROY — A former Rensselaer County psychologist was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison after pleading guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old Tamarac High School student she was counseling.

Despite initially denying the charges, Jennifer A. Hastings, 33, pleaded guilty on Oct. 9, 2008, to all counts against her for having sex with the boy at her home and area motels in October 2007: performing a criminal sexual act, four counts of second-degree rape — all felonies — as well as misdemeanors of sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

She was sentenced to three years in prison on each rape count and for the criminal sexual act, while the misdemeanors netted her a total of one year and 90 days in prison. However, the sentences are all to run concurrently, amounting to a three–year prison term with five years of post-release supervision.

NOTE: Jennifer A. Hastings, 33, she was guilty on oct.9,2008, to all counts against her for having sex with the boy at her home and area motels in october2007.

Her attorney, Steve Coffey, had asked for leniency, but Judge Patrick McGrath did not spare Hastings jail time.

"You were given this young boy to help … and you did just the opposite," McGrath told her.

In a statement given before her sentence was read, Hastings tearfully apologized to her family and to the family of the boy, now 15, whose identity was not released.

The Sand Lake resident was employed by the county's Department of Mental Health when she was hired to counsel the boy as part of a court order in 2006. The counseling evidently took place without incident until early September of 2007, when the seven-count indictment indicates the first crimes occurred.

The investigation began in October after a state trooper noticed Hastings waiting in the parking lot of Tamarac High School, where the boy was a freshman at the time. Hastings told the trooper she was picking up her brother, but the trooper was familiar with the boy and knew he did not have an older sister.

NOTE:THE sandlake resident was employed by the department of mental healt.

The boy later described the sexual interactions between the two to police during questioning, and Hastings was arrested on Oct. 15, 2007. While the rapes were not forcible, a 14-year-old is not old enough to consent to having sex, according to state law.

She was suspended with pay from her position with the county, where she had been employed since 2003, and later resigned and had her psychology license suspended.

She initially pleaded not guilty in April of last year and went free on $20,000 bail. She also rejected a plea deal in September before admitting to the charges the following month.

The acts occurred at Hastings's home at 222 Sheer Road in Sand Lake and a Schodack motel, according to the indictment, as well as a Colonie motel, police said at the time.

The sentencing, held in the largest courtroom in Rensselaer County Court, drew a large number of spectators, a handful of whom were in tears after the reading of the sentence.
Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of troyrecord.com.

bigjohnsr1965 wrote on Feb 6, 2009 5:43 AM:
" Shes a sick ticket, and I hope the other inmates, find out what she's in for. "

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