A former Middle School teacher awaiting trial on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old student told the teen in Snapchat messages to “delete everything,” and wrote that she didn’t know where her brain was, adding “it was the worst decision of my life,” according to newly released records.
Stephanie Peterson, 27, of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, is charged with three felonies after picking up a student from his home late at night, deputies said, to have sex with him in her house and her car, as well as in a barn behind the student’s house. The contact occurred between Nov. 1, 2017 and Jan. 31, 2018, court documents state.
Volusia County sheriff’s deputies arrested Peterson on Feb. 28 and charged her with two counts of lewd or lascivious battery sex act with a child, each a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. She is also charged with one count of transmission of harmful material to minors by electronic means, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
While the case began eight months ago with Peterson’s arrest, the documents and pictures that are now discovery in the case were released weeks after repeated requests by The Daytona Beach News-Journal, the first of which was sent Aug. 30. Some of the material Peterson’s defense attorneys now have has not been released because it is exempt, at least for now, by public records laws.
When asked about the delay releasing the former teacher’s records, Assistant State Attorney Shannon Peters said review for legal redaction takes time, especially in sexual abuse cases.
Among the records provided are Snapchat messages which appear to show Peterson panicking when she learns that the mother of the 14-year-old she is accused of having sex with was going to police, the sheriff’s report states.
“So she’s planning on doing something with it,” wrote Peterson to the student.
“I hate you” Peterson said
“So much” Peterson added.
Then Peterson wrote: “Pleas tell her it was the worst decision of my life and I know it was and idk where my brain was but that I somehow fell in love with you briefly and idk why and I’ll never be the same person because of it.”
She asks: “Should I call her?!??!”
Then she pleads: “Delete everything.”
Peterson has a court hearing at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday before Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand.
A few texts later the 13-year-old says he won’t tell anyone. About what, he did not specify.
“I haven’t and I’m not gonna tell anybody,” the teen says.
“I’m not upset I just don’t want to hurt you or do anything to get us in trouble,” Peterson responds.
In the report, the teen told investigators the situation started after Peterson let him use her smartphone so he could check his Instagram account, but he left himself logged on. Later that night she sent him a message through his own Instagram account. They started communicating through Snapchat as she sent him nude pictures, the report states.
She drove to his home at night and he sneaked out to meet her. They had sexual intercourse in her car in the driveway, the report stats, and she gave him oral sex on her couch in her house and twice in the barn behind his residence.
Peterson asked him to have sexual intercourse two other times but he turned her down because he didn’t have condoms, the report states.
The student told investigators Peterson had bought marijuana for him and “bowls” for smoking it.
The boy said the relationship affected his performance in school. He said that he had had all A’s, B’s and a few C’s before he started seeing Peterson. But that plummeted to multiple F’s when he started skipping class to hang out with Peterson.
The teen also said that Peterson took his virginity.