A former Miss Kentucky has been sentenced to two years in prison after admitting to exchanging sexual photos with a teenage student when s...
A former Miss Kentucky has been sentenced to two years in prison after admitting to exchanging sexual photos with a teenage student when she was working as a school teacher.
Ramsey BethAnn Bearse, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing material depicting minors in sexually explicit conduct in December 2019 and was sentenced Tuesday.
Authorities said the former West Virginia middle school educator admitted to exchanging photos with the student on Snapchat between August and October 2018. A parent of the male student reported finding the images on the teen's phone, news outlets said.
She was also sentenced to an additional 10 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender for life, according to Kanawha Assistant Prosecutor Meshell Jarrett.
Bearse was initially charged with four counts of sending obscene material to a minor.
A teacher and former Miss Kentucky is pictured after she was arrested for exchanging explicit images with a 15-year-old boy at the school she worked in (left). Ramsey BethAnn Bearse, 29, won the state beauty competition in 2014 (right), impressing the judges with her bluegrass fiddle playing
Former Miss Kentucky Ramsey BethAnn Bearse, 29, has been sentence to two years in prison after sending explicit photos to a 15-year-old student while she was working as a teacher
Bearse previously testified she meant to send a photo to her husband, but accidentally sent it to the teen. She claimed the student asked for additional photos, so she continued to send them because she was 'afraid to not appease him.'
Bearse said Tuesday that she accepted 'full responsibility' for her actions.
'Since I am the adult, and he was just a teenager, it is my fault, and I accept full blame for the situation,' Bearse said in December last year.
'So that’s how I’m guilty of this crime. I messed up big-time.'
Bearse is said to have impressed the Miss Kentucky judges in 2014 by playing her fiddle
Under her maiden name of Carpenter, Bearse was crowned Miss Kentucky in 2014 in the Miss America pageant.
Bearse is said to have impressed the Miss Kentucky judges in 2014 by playing bluegrass music on her fiddle.
After the win, she went on to act as a spokeswoman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and featured in interviews to talk about being diagnosed with the central nervous system disease in 2010.
She was suspended from her teaching position during the investigation, and the Kanawha County school district has said she no longer works there.
Bearse previously testified she meant to send a photo to her husband, but accidentally sent it to the teen. She claimed the student asked for additional photos, so she continued to send them because she was 'afraid to not appease him'
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