Booster club mom allegedly traded vape pens for sex with 9 underaged boys — one as young as 14



A 38-year-old woman from Englewood, Tennessee, swapped vape pens for sexual favors with nine underaged boys at a local high school, police said this week, noting that more victims may soon come forward.

What are the details?

Melissa Blair was charged on Tuesday with 18 counts of aggravated statutory rape, four counts of human trafficking by patronizing prostitution, and one count of solicitation of a minor, WTVC-TV reported.

Blair — who is reportedly a booster club mom and parent of a former student at McMinn County Central High School, where her alleged victims attend — solicited the boys, all of whom are aged 14 to 17, on social media platforms, police said.

"It appears that Ms. Blair was communicating with the juveniles on social media, arranging meetings with them, and trading items for sexual encounters with them," McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said in a press release.

UPDATED MUGSHOT: McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy has provided us with a higher resolution image of the mugshot of Melissa Blair, the woman facing a dozen & half charges of having sex with underage boys: https://bit.ly/3oWfZBt\u00a0pic.twitter.com/SMgmRcCRed
— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@WTVC NewsChannel 9) 1645027953

Citing a parent of one of the alleged victims who wished to remain anonymous, WTVC reported that vape pens were among the items that Blair offered her victims.

The incidents, which were brought before a grand jury last week, allegedly occurred between spring 2020 and winter 2021.

According to the Daily Athenian, the investigation into Blair began Dec. 9, 2021, after the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services informed the McMinn County Sheriff’s Office that it had received a tip about Blair having sexual encounters with male minors.

Guy said that over the next couple of months, that number grew larger as more parents and victims contacted authorities.

Following her indictment, Blair turned herself in to the police. She was originally held on a $100,000 bond but was released Tuesday night after posting the required amount.

What else?

In a press release, Sheriff Guy encouraged more potential victims to come forward.

"The current charges are related to nine confirmed male juvenile victims, related to incidents which occurred from Spring of 2020 through late 2021," the sheriff said. "Seven of the victims are still juveniles. Two were victimized as juveniles but are now adults. We suspect there may be additional juvenile victims and we encourage them or their parents to contact us."

"There may possibly be other victims who are now adults, and we also encourage them to contact us," he added.

One of the victims' mothers told WTVC, "We are devastated at this point. I cannot in words describe what it feels like to be going through what we’re going through right now. It is every emotion that you can imagine. And none of them happy."

She went on to lament that "people focus mostly on the perpetrator [and] they don’t realize how it devastates a family. How the families are at home, and we don’t know what to do next. I have no idea how to go forward with this."

Melissa Blair indicted on 18 child rape charges; Sheriff says there are more victims www.youtube.com

Former HS aide testifies she didn't realize sex with students is off limits for all staff, as opposed to just teachers — and gets 4 years behind bars



A former teacher's aide at a Texarkana, Texas, high school testified that she wasn't aware that sex with students is forbidden for all staff members, as opposed to just teachers — and in the end, 24-year-old Ashlyn Faye Bell was sentenced Monday to four years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct with three underage males.

What's the background?

Testimony at the trial for Bell indicated she made contact with boys she met while working as an aide at Texas High School, the Texarkana Gazette reported, after which she picked them up from truck stops and their homes in the middle of the night — often with her 3-year-old daughter in the back seat. The paper reported that Bell took the boys to her home in New Boston where she had sex with them.

But Bell testified that she didn't realize Texarkana Independent School District policy prohibited all staff members from having sex with students, as opposed to teachers only, the Gazette said. However, a prosecuting attorney referred to documents Bell signed at new employee orientation regarding sexual harassment of staff and students — and that Bell earned a 90% on a related test, the paper reported.

Bell also claimed she believed the boys were 18, the Gazette noted, adding that victims testified that she told them she could get in trouble over the illicit relationships.

How did she plead?

Bell pleaded guilty last month to two counts of improper relationship between educator and student involving two 17-year-old boys and two counts of sexual assault of a child involving a 16-year-old boy, the paper said in a later story. She was sentenced to four years in prison on one count of sexual assault of a child and received probation for the other three counts, the Gazette added.

Anything else?

The judge ordered Bell to be supervised on a sex offender caseload once she's released from prison, the paper said, adding that she will be required to register as a sex offender. The Gazette added that Texas parole officials will not be able to consider Bell for release for two years.

New York Times Sympathizes With Adults Who Pursue Sex With 13-Year-Old Girls

The New York Times has defended so-called victimless child sex crimes in a lengthy apologetic for men in prison for solicitation for sex with minors.