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Michelle Mercogliano, 36, “admitted that she had sex with, and provided marijuana to, a high school student” during an appearance at the Chester County Court of Common Pleas on May 1
She also entered a guilty plea to two counts of sexual intercourse with a student and one count each of corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor
Mercogliano will now serve 15 months in prison for the incidents, which involved a 16-year-old student at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pa.
A Pennsylvania school teacher was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being accused of sexually abusing a student.
Michelle Mercogliano entered a guilty plea to two counts of sexual intercourse with a student and one count each of corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas on May 1, according to a copy of her criminal docket obtained by PEOPLE.
She received a minimum sentence of 11 months on both sexual intercourse counts and the unlawful contact with a minor count, but will only have to serve 15 months in prison as part of her deal with prosecutors.
Mercogliano, 36, also “admitted that she had sex with, and provided marijuana to, a high school student,” according to a news release from the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
Once she is released from prison, she will “be supervised by a probation officer for at least 80 months after her release, and has been determined to be a Tier II Sex Offender,” the release said.
Prosecutors noted that she had previously forfeited her teaching license and would not be able to work with children while on probation.
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A criminal complaint filed by the Tredyffrin Township Police Department (TTPD) and obtained by PEOPLE said that Mercogliano “began to have a sexual relationship with the 16-year-old victim” in February 2025.
At the same time, Mercogliano also provided the victim with marijuana, police said in the complaint.
The TTPD learned of the conduct a few weeks after it began and launched an investigation into the allegations.
At the time of the incidents, Mercogliano was a teacher at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, about 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
She had only been working at the school for a year, according to a statement from Superintendent Richard Gusick of the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District.
Mercogliano cooperated with investigators and was eventually taken into custody and charged with 40 counts of institutional sexual assault, 20 counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one count each of corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility and possession with intent to deliver.
As part of her deal, 59 of those counts were dropped, and most of her sentences will run concurrently, so she will only have to serve 15 months as opposed to 33.
Chester County District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe previously said at the start of the investigation that “parents and students should be able to trust their teachers,” and behavior like that exhibited by the defendant “will not be tolerated.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
Read the original article on People