A former Flin Flon school employee expressed “deep regret” Thursday as she was sentenced to 90 days in jail for having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old male student.
Kristina Richelle Lies will be allowed to serve her sentence on weekends. She also received two years of supervised probation and will be placed on the national sex-offender registry.
Lies, a one-time support worker at Ruth Betts Community School, had earlier pleaded guilty to sexual interference.
“I want you to know of my deep regret,” Lies told court, as reported by the Winnipeg Free Press. “It was never my intention to end up in a situation where this hurt would be caused. It's been a lesson of great teaching to me.”
Crown prosecutor Todd Rambow said Lies’ sentence stemmed from a joint recommendation between the Crown and defence, in consultation with the victim and his family.
“The court felt the joint recommendation was appropriate,” Rambow told The Reminder.
Lies’ lawyer, Josh Weinstein, told court his client “absolutely has to live with the consequences in regard to her conduct,” the Free Press reported.
In addition to sexual interference, Lies had also been charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation, but the Crown dropped those charges.
Flin Flon RCMP began investigating Lies in August 2013 after receiving information that a teenage boy might have been sexually assaulted.
At the time of her arrest three weeks later, Lies, then 36, was employed as a parent-child programmer at Ruth Betts Community School.
In that role, Lies’ goals included increasing community involvement at the K-8 school. It is not alleged that she committed any crimes on school property.
The Flin Flon School Division suspended Lies after she was charged. She no longer works for the division.
Rambow told a court hearing last year that Lies was in a position of trust over the victim when an “inappropriate” relationship began around February 2013, the Free Press reported.
