A former Loudoun County, Virginia, school counselor has been sentenced to serve two years behind bars after pleading guilty to having an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of her high school students.
Ann Marie Barrett, 43, of Ashburn, re-entered a guilty plea Thursday in Circuit Court, and was sentenced by a judge to a five-year prison sentence with three years suspended, followed by three years of probation. Barrett had pleaded guilty in September, but that judge recused himself on the day of her sentencing, forcing Thursday’s plea and sentencing hearing. Corrections officials will determine where Barrett serves the time.
The inappropriate relationship occurred between 2013 and 2016, while Barrett was working at Freedom High School, in South Riding. When the relationship began, the boy was 16 and Barrett was 34.
The now 25-year-old former student provided a victim impact statement before Barrett was sentenced. WTOP is not identifying the student, who was a minor at the time the illegal sexual relationship began.
The student recounted meeting Barrett, with his mother, at a time when he was feeling vulnerable and insecure. He said Barrett invited him to spend time with her and her young child at a playground. “My mom trusted you. I trusted you.”
The former student said Barrett repeatedly said he needed more “wholesomeness” in his life. However, after a few get-togethers, the relationship with the boy turned sexual.
“In hindsight, we have two very different definitions of wholesome,” according to the written victim impact statement, which was provided to WTOP. “Your definition of wholesome involved sexually abusing a 16-year-old child.”
The former student said school counselors “are supposed to maximize a student’s success by reducing obstacles that could hinder a student from reaching their full potential.” Instead, the illicit relationship became controlling, prompting the student to feel isolated from his mother, best friend, and peers.
“You manipulated and convinced me that what we were doing was okay,” wrote the former student. “You acted like my mother and my lover all wrapped into one.”
The former student said he is “learning how to control my anger and volatility, to hold myself accountable, to reconnect with my mom, to let people in and let them care about me.”
“I hope you take the time to reflect on how wrong you were. You no longer control me. I’m stronger than you thought. I survived you,” he wrote.
Barrett’s attorney, William Mann, did not immediately respond to WTOP requests for comment on the sentence.
