DETROIT, July 4 (UPI) -- A 32-year-old teacher in Canton, Mich., who had sex with one of her 15-year-old students should spend time in prison, a judge ruled.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Craig Strong has sentenced former Plymouth Christian Academy teacher Stephanie Stein to a minimum of three years in prison for having sex with one of her former students, The Detroit News said Friday.

The mother-of-two told Strong during Thursday's sentencing that the illicit relationship stemmed from a prior bitter divorce.

"I fell in love with someone who wasn't real," Stein said.

"He made me feel safe and made the promises I wanted when I got married. I am ashamed at my lack of common sense."

While Stein's lawyer had attempted to portray the unidentified teenager as the perpetrator of the relationship, his mother testified her son has been irrevocably changed by the incident.

"She has forever altered the course of his life," said the mother, whose identity was also not released.