An award-winning Arkansas teacher has been sent to prison after admitting to having sex with a female student.
Leah Quinn, 44, pleaded guilty earlier this week to sexual assault, a charge she previously pleaded not guilty to.
Queen, who is from Oklahoma, was a physical education teacher at Gentry Intermediate School in Gentry, near Fayetteville.
The attack happened 13 years ago in 2010 when the high school student was 17 and the queen was 31.
Although the age of consent in Arkansas is 16, teachers are only allowed to have sexual relations with students at 18.
The former student detailed in court documents how they began having sex in the summer of 2010.
An Arkansas teacher, Leah Quinn, 44, has been sentenced to 58 days in jail after admitting to having sex with a student.
Rani, who was a PE teacher, pleaded guilty earlier this week to sexual assault, although the relationship with the student took place 13 years ago in 2010.
In 2019 she was awarded a Golden Apple Award as one of her students was nominated on local television station KNWA.
The affidavit described how Rani and the victim had ‘engaged in deviant sexual activity’ before the minor’s senior year of high school.
He was on a camping trip when he kissed the victim. A student’s journal also detailed various other instances of intimacy between the pair.
Rani had sex with the student in her office, in her office bathroom and even at home, according to an affidavit.
The student’s parents, Rani’s ex-husband and another former school teacher all corroborated various accounts of the student’s allegations.
Rani, who was in grades 3-5 at the time of her arrest, had been a teacher in the Gentry School District for more than 20 years.
The Queen also underwent a huge change in her weight
Rani was a PE teacher and took on the role of losing half her body weight in 10 years
It’s a huge fall from grace for the former teacher who was named ‘Teacher of the Year’ in 2022 at her school
An affidavit described how Rani befriended the victim after playing basketball and then the pair began socializing outside of school hours.
Queen’s ex also reported seeing the victim sharing a bed with his ex-wife on several occasions.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karen placed Queen on six years of state-supervised probation and sentenced her to 58 days in the Benton County Jail.
He was also ordered to have no contact with the victim.
Rani, who was a grade 3-5 teacher at the time of her arrest, has been a teacher in the Gentry School District for more than 20 years and initially pleaded not guilty but later changed her plea.
Rani initially pleaded not guilty but changed her plea to guilty
Rani was a PE teacher and took on the role of losing half her body weight in 11 years
The queen is pictured with her current boyfriend who regularly features in her posts on social media
The Queen will never be allowed to set foot in a classroom again. He must register as a sex offender and complete a sex offender treatment program
He agreed to never be employed as a teacher again as part of the plea agreement.
Queen must register as a sex offender and complete a sex offender treatment program.
The Queen underwent a huge transformation in recent years as she took on her role as a PE teacher and shed hundreds of pounds, dropping from 300lbs to 165lbs over the course of several decades.
It’s a huge fall from grace for the former teacher who was named ‘Teacher of the Year’ at his school in 2022 and was given a Golden Apple award in 2019, nominated by one of his young students on local television station KNWA.
‘When I was in second grade, I had a teacher who didn’t think much of himself. I just wanted to love my kids. I have a passion and drive for this and they love me back,’ Rani told the station while accepting her award.