Sexting counselor gets 6 years in prison

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SAN ANTONIO, April 3 (UPI) -- A Texas judge sentenced a former elementary school counselor to six years in prison for sending nude images of herself to a 15-year-old boy by cellphone.

Cynthia Denise "Cindy" Stewart, 43, must register as a sex offender, state District Judge Juanita Vasquez-Gardner said Monday.

Stewart's friends and soon-to-be ex-husband testified they believed she posed no risk to other minors in her plea for probation, the San Antonio Express-News reported Tuesday.

"This is a terrible mistake," defense attorney Wayne Wood told the judge. "I believe in my heart this is a one-time event with this young man. She takes full responsibility. She understands it's the adult's responsibility to set boundaries and limits."

Federal investigators arrested Stewart, who was a counselor at Olympia Elementary School in Universal City, in November, after the victim's parents approached authorities with a printout of her online conversations with their son. In a letter to Vasquez-Gardner, the parents of the teen said they were afraid to bring their concerns to the attention of law enforcement because of the attention they knew it would receive.

"But we knew we couldn't live with her being in the school setting with children in the future," they wrote.