Police: Ex-Teacher Violates Sex Limits

Mary Kay LeTourneau, a former grade-school teacher who had sex with a former pupil and bore his child, was arrested today after being found in a parked car with a 14-year-old boy, police said.

Her lawyer confirmed the youth was the boy she was convicted of raping and with whom she had a child. Her arrest means she stands a "good chance" of now being sent to prison for violating terms of her release, said the attorney, David Gehrke.

Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the county prosecutor's office, said LeTourneau will be held until she has a sentence revocation hearing Friday morning.

LeTourneau was arrested around 3 a.m. about a block from the home where she had been living in south Seattle, when officers who were looking for a stolen vehicle noticed a parked car that "looked suspicious" because its lights were on and "its windows were steamy," said Carmen Best, a Seattle Police spokeswoman.

LeTourneau was with a 14-year-old boy, Best said. Officers arrested her for being in contact with a minor, a violation of the terms of her release, after they determined her identity, Best said.

Police declined to release the boy's identity. But Gehrke told KIRO-TV of Seattle that the teen-ager was the same boy she was convicted of raping.

"She was fixated on this one boy, and she had been under a no-contact order ... It just underscores how deep-rooted this compulsion is," Gehrke said.

Gehrke did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press this morning.

Both LeTourneau and the teen-ager were questioned by investigators from a special sexual assault unit, Best said. The boy was later released into his parents' custody. LeTourneau was taken to King County Jail.

LeTourneau, 35, pleaded guilty in August to two counts of second-degree child rape and was sentenced to six months behind bars followed by sex-offender treatment.

The Shorewood Elementary School teacher, who had already served 100 days and was given additional time off for good behavior, was released from jail last month.

Under the terms of her release, LeTourneau was not allowed to have contact with her victim. She was also banned from having contact with minors or dating anyone with minors living with them.

Failure to comply could mean seven and a half years in prison, something LeTourneau now stands a "good chance" of facing, Gehrke said.

Donohoe said prosecutors will ask for the prison term.

"Our position has always been that she should receive a prison sentence," he said.

LeTourneau was a married mother of four when she began having sex with the boy in the summer of 1996.

Her husband, Steve LeTourneau, who lives with the children, has filed for divorce.

LeTourneau lives in the Mount Baker area with a friend and was undergoing a three-year sexual deviancy treatment under the terms of her sentencing. She also was hoping to regin custody of the infant girl she had with the boy. The baby now lives with the boy's family.

The terms also mandated that she disclose her "sexual deviancy" to any potential partners, avoid places where minors are known to congregate, and not initiate or prolong contact with children. She must also inform the corrections officer of any romantic relationship to verify there are no children involved.

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