On Jan. 28, we published a post about a current Colorado case involving a high school educator and a student from her place of work. Police report that they found the 31-year-old woman with a 16-year-old student in a car, both of them naked, and she had allegedly provided him alcohol. She faces the following charges:
- Sexual assault
- Sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust
- Contributing to the delinquency of a minor
The female sex assault defendant is more than a suspect and an educator. She is also a mother of two daughters and a wife. After her January arrest, she’s been prohibited from not only being within 100 feet of the alleged victim’s school and having no contact with him or other minors, but she was also kept from seeing her own children. And based on a judge’s recent decision, that limitation isn’t going away.
According to sources, the suspect’s Colorado sex assault on a child lawyer pleaded with the court to permit physical contact between the defendant and her children. He argued that his client has a clean criminal background and would pose no risk to her own children. Plus, to mitigate any perceived risk, the attorney suggested that the children’s father and/or a child advocate be present during the requested visits.
The judge wasn’t convinced and sided with the DA, who thought it was too soon to assume that things were safe within the defendant’s family. She wants a formal assessment of the family and family home done before the defendant is allowed physical contact with her kids. For now, contact via phone is going to have to suffice. The calls cannot exceed 30 minutes in duration, and they will only be allowed as long as the father (the defendant’s current husband) is listening in on the conversations.
As you can imagine, it was reportedly an emotional day in court as the mother fought for the right to see her children. That option could open up to her down the road, but only if it’s determined that visitation would be in the best interest of her daughters.
We will continue to post updates to this case as it progresses through the system.
Source
TheDenverChannel.com: “Judge Allows Courtney Bowles To Call Daughters,” Kim Nguyen, 11 Feb. 2011