By STEPHANIE MOJICA
Stephanie.Mojica@newsandtribune.com
October 24, 2007 12:20 pm
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A Greenville woman who was a substitute teacher for the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp., was sentenced to serve 66 years in prison on child-molesting charges, and still faces a federal hearing on the allegations.
Jennifer Jacobi, 35, was sentenced last week in Harrison County Superior Court in Corydon on two class A felonies — child molesting and conspiracy to commit child molesting — and a class C felony child molesting charge. Judge Roger D. Davis accepted a plea agreement and sentenced Jacobi to 76 years in prison and suspended 10 of those.
The conviction against Jacobi was for her performing oral sex upon and fondling a child under age 14, said Harrison Deputy Prosecutor Michelle MarQuand. Jacobi had a long-term relationship with a known pedophile incarcerated in Maine and procured a child for him during his visit to Harrison County, MarQuand said. The man, Richard Prado, later committed suicide.
“Her crime in and of itself was terrible, regardless of who did this,” MarQuand said. “It was truly a very horrible situation.”
MarQuand declined to identify the child’s gender or give further details, but said it had nothing to do with Jacobi’s former substitute teaching.
“I don’t want people to feel alarmed and quiz their kids about what happened,” MarQuand said.
Jacobi’s attorney, Nicholas Haverstock of Corydon, said that he and his client were satisfied with the outcome considering the situation.
“This sentence gives her a chance to get out of prison before she dies,” Haverstock said. “We’re glad that it’s over and everybody can move on with the healing process.”
Jacobi was charged this summer with 10 federal counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Those charges involved children under age 12.
However, a plea agreement on that case is pending in U.S. District Court in New Albany, said Mary E. Bippus, a court spokeswoman. Haverstock was not involved in this case.
A copy of that plea agreement says that Jacobi agrees to plead guilty to two of the federal child pornography producing charges and be sentenced to 35 years in prison, to run concurrently with her Harrison County sentence. She also would receive credit for time served since February 2006, and not be levied the standard $250,000 fine. If released, Jacobi would be required not to possess any kind of nude images, erotica or pornography. In addition, she would be under supervised release for the remainder of her life and not be allowed unsupervised contact with any minor children, including relatives, without her probation officer’s consent.
Jacobi would be allowed to own a computer upon release, but it would be equipped with a monitoring device. By signing the agreement, she forfeited rights to seized items she owned, including a computer, sex toys, cameras, poems and other writings “relating to a sexual interest in children,” DVDs, VHS tapes, computer disks with child pornography and child erotica, and books and magazines. She must pay federal authorities $200 in court costs.
Haverstock declined to discuss whether Jacobi felt remorse for the situation, citing it could violate attorney-client privilege. Jacobi’s federal public defender, Henry M. Burt, could not be reached for comment.
However, the federal plea agreement states Jacobi has “demonstrated a recognition and affirmative acceptance of responsibility for her criminal conduct.”
Jacobi is being held in Harrison County Jail, and is expected to be transported to a federal facility to await sentencing on those charges. A federal sentencing date had not been set as of deadline.
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