CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — A new West Virginia law provides for harsher punishments for school employees or volunteers who engage in illegal sexual acts with any student in their school, regardless of age.
West Virginia Senate Bill 187 makes it a felony for any school employee or volunteer to engage in sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion, or sexual contact with any student in the school where the person is employed.
It also provides that those convicted will have any education-related certificate they may hold permanently revoked.
The law applies to all employees and volunteers at any private or public elementary or secondary school in the state and also makes it so that neither consent nor the location where an offense occurred is a defense to prosecution.
It creates a mandatory minimum for those convicted of one year in a state correctional facility and a maximum of five years, as well as a possible fine of up to $5,000.
