CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former Capital High School teacher will be placed on probation for the next two years after giving alcohol to an underage student.
Michelle Elaine Ball, 31, of St. Albans, was sentenced Tuesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court following the 2013 incident.
“It has impacted not only my family, but the victim, my career, my husband and most of all my son,” Ball told Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jim Stucky. “I am immensely sorry for what I have done.”
Ball, who taught Spanish at Capital, previously pleaded guilty in October to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Originally, she was indicted on a sexual abuse charge. After entering into an information agreement with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to a lesser offense.
Ball’s attorney John Mitchell told the judge she has been through a lot in the last two years after the loss of her teaching job.
“She lost her position at Capital High School. She now has a criminal conviction for buying a 17-year-old boy booze,” Mitchell said. “It’s been a heck of a price to pay, judge.”
Ball repeatedly said she was sorry for what she did, at times, holding back tears.
“I apologize to the victim and his family. I apologize to my husband and son and to the court. This is not something I would ever do again,” she said. “All I ask, your honor, is that I be given the chance to redeem myself and to be the mom I want to be.”
Judge Stucky also imposed a community corrections fee of $5 per month and a supervision fee of $15 per month while Ball is supervised by the Kanawha County Probation Department.