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Ex-teacher who sexually abused 14-year-old Maryland student to serve fraction of 30-year sentence

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Ex-teacher who sexually abused 14-year-old Maryland student to serve fraction of 30-year sentence


A former middle school teacher who repeatedly sexually abused a 14-year-old student in Maryland has been sentenced to three decades in prison, but she’ll only serve one year, a judge ruled.

Melissa Marie Curtis, 32, pleaded guilty to three counts of a third-degree sex offense on June 20, according to information from the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and District Court of Maryland court papers obtained by USA TODAY on Wednesday.

The Montgomery County Police Department initiated an investigation in early October 2023 when the eighth-grade victim, now an adult, reported he was sexually abused by Curtis who was a teacher at Montgomery Village Middle School, according to a previous news release from the agency.

At the time of the offenses, detectives reported, the student was 14 years old and Curtis was 22.

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Judge: Teacher to serve 12 months in jail

Curtis, who is from the town of Upper Marlboro in Prince George’s County, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office told USA TODAY Wednesday.

But Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Theresa Chernosky suspended most of Curtis’ sentence, allowing her to serve 12 months year in jail followed by five years of supervised probation, the spokesperson said.

When she is released, Curtis must register as a sex offender, the spokesperson said, and will not be permitted to have unsupervised contact with minors other than her children.

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The prosecutors office did not respond to a request for comment about the sentencing.

Teacher abused 14-year-old in classroom, car, at home

The victim told detectives the abuse began in 2015, the spokesperson said, when he volunteered for an after-school program that Curtis was running and “they were often alone together”

Charging documents show the victim told detectives Curtis sexually abused him in a classroom, in a car, at his home, and as well as Curtis’ home “more than 20 times” when he was in middle school. The complaint goes onto say Curtis also gave the boy drugs and alcohol multiple times.

A warrant for Curtis’s arrest was obtained on Oct. 31, 2023 and Curtis turned herself in on Nov. 7, 2023, officials reported.

At the time, Curtis had been a teacher for about two years in Montgomery County and taught at Lakelands Park Middle School as well.

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A spokesperson told Fox 5 Curtis left Montgomery County Public Schools in 2017.

USA TODAY has reached out to Montgomery County Public Schools.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.



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Maryland

Warm weekend ahead of Monday storms in Maryland

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Warm weekend ahead of Monday storms in Maryland



Warm weekend ahead of Monday storms in Maryland – CBS Baltimore

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How to watch #7 Penn State vs. #2 Maryland men’s lacrosse: Time, channel, FREE live streams

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How to watch #7 Penn State vs. #2 Maryland men’s lacrosse: Time, channel, FREE live streams


A top-10 NCAA men’s lacrosse battle goes down Saturday afternoon in College Park as the 7th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions take on the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins. The game is scheduled to start at noon ET with TV coverage on BTN and streaming on-demand.

  • How to watch: Live streams of the Penn State vs. Maryland game are available with offers from FuboTV (free trial), SlingTV (low intro rate) and DirecTV Stream (free trial).

#7 Penn State Nittany Lions (6-2) at #2 Maryland Terrapins (7-1)

Big Ten lacrosse game at a glance

When: Saturday, March 29 at noon ET

Where: SECU Stadium, College Park, Md.

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TV channel: BTN

Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate) | DirecTV Stream (free trial)

The Nittany Lions look to get back into the win column after dropping their Big Ten opener Sunday to No. 9 Ohio State at Panzer Stadium. Penn State sits at 6-2 overall after winning its four previous matchups, the highlight of which was a 13-12 overtime win over No. 3 Cornell on March 8. The Lions face a talented Maryland team that sits at No. 2 in the latest national rankings, but the Terps are also in rebound mode after losing their Big Ten opener to Michigan (11-10 3OT). That setback was Maryland’s first and only loss of the 2025 season so far.

Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Maryland Terrapins: Know your live streaming options

  • FuboTV (free trial)excellent viewer experience with a huge library of live sports content; free trial lengths vary; monthly rate after free trial starts at $79.99.
  • SlingTV (low intro rate) discounted first month is best if you’ve run out of free trials or you’re in the market for 1+ month of TV
  • DirecTV Stream (free trial) not the same level of viewer experience as FuboTV, but the 7-day free trial is still the longest in streaming.

The Lions and Terps are set for a noon ET start on BTN. Live streams are available from FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and SlingTV (low intro rate).



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Staley talks up Gamecocks’ resilience in ‘ugly’ win

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Staley talks up Gamecocks’ resilience in ‘ugly’ win


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – South Carolina coach Dawn Staley knows what will be said about her team after a 71-67 win over Maryland in the Sweet 16 on Friday.

For the second straight game, the reigning national champions trailed at halftime and had to come from behind to win after shooting poorly for stretches and making uncharacteristic mistakes.

Where Staley sees a resilient team, one that is unshakeable and unflappable, in its quest to repeat, others, she acknowledges, may not see it the same way.

“Is it ugly? Yes. Are people going to say this doesn’t look like a national championship team?” Staley asked. “Well, we didn’t look like one last year to most in the beginning of the season. Probably didn’t look like one — we looked like one in ’22. (2017) we didn’t look like one. I think we’re back to where we don’t look like one, and hopefully we can win it and even it out.”

To get the win Friday, South Carolina turned to MiLaysia Fulwiley, one of its best players off the bench. Staley saw a starting group that did not have much cohesion or spark in the first half, so she turned to Fulwiley because of her ability to create shots.

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Maryland went up six early in the third quarter before the Gamecocks started chipping away, thanks in large part to Fulwiley.

Her dazzling plays – from a spin move dish out to Te-Hina Paopao to a behind-the-back lay in -sparked South Carolina in the second half. On her behind-the-back score, Fulwiley said she heard Maryland players screaming, “Come on, come on, she’s not going to score this.”

“I just let my confidence finish the rest and it went in. So I was excited to prove my haters wrong.”

Fulwiley set her own NCAA tournament high with 23 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, the most by South Carolina player off the bench in an NCAA tournament game since 2000.

“If it’s that kind of game, Lay is the perfect guard that you can call on to manufacture points and she did that,” Staley said of Fulwiley. “Everybody just started to flow around her. We haven’t really had to play that way a whole lot, so it was a little bit different but refreshing to know we can call on the youngster and she can come through for us.”

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Still, South Carolina trailed 60-59 when Maryland forward Allie Kubek fouled out of the game with 3:07 left. That changed the dynamic. Without her presence inside, South Carolina went on a 7-0 run to essentially seal the game. Fulwiley had two driving layups on that run and was exceptional all night on her drives to the basket, shooting 78 percent on paint baskets, according to ESPN Research.

She scored or assisted on 29 total points in just 21 minutes played.

“Nobody in the country has anyone to be able to match that kind of speed,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “We were trying to corral her with two to three players, but you see her end-to-end speed. I thought she was no question the most valuable player in this game. We had no answer for her. That’s just how elite she is with her speed.”

Frese said she did not want to criticize the officiating but pointed out her team went to the free-throw line 16 times in the first half, but had only two free-throw attempts in the second half.

“Something changed,” Frese said. “I didn’t think the way we were attacking getting to the rim and making plays (changed). We just for whatever reason weren’t able to get to the free-throw line and that’s a big piece of who we are.”

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Despite the loss, Frese added, “We showed that we could win this game, and I think we gave a pretty good blueprint on how to beat South Carolina, to be quite honest, for the teams moving forward.”

The next team is Duke, one of the best defensive teams left in the NCAA tournament. The teams played previously this season, with South Carolina winning 81-70 in December.

“People thought we had the easiest region,” Staley said. “It’s not easy at all. It gets harder.”



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