The 30-year-old contractor teacher who worked at Northgate High School and was charged in May 2011 with the molestation of a 16-year-old former special needs student has received 15 years probation in Coweta County Superior Court.
The ruling by Superior Court Judge Jack Kirby on Monday followed a non-negotiated plea by Dorothy Elizabeth Dixon to one count of sexual assault on a student, according to Coweta County Assistant District Attorney Timothy Marlow.
Dixon was working at Northgate High School as a contract employee and was charged in May 2011 with child molestation involving a 15-year-old former student. Dixon was arrested last year after her husband found sexting messages on his wife’s phone, confronted her and reported her explanation to authorities.
Maj. James Yarbrough with the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office at the time of Dixon’s arrest last year said her husband saw messages on his wife’s phone and originally thought those communications were with a adult male. But what Dixon told him when he confronted her, said Yarbrough, was that she had been having relations with a 15-year-old boy who had been a former student that she had taught in a special needs class at Northgate.
Marlow noted that the student was 15 years of age when the relationship began and 16 years old when the sexual assault occurred. Marlow said the state wanted the plea to result in significant jail time but the court disagreed.
Though Dixon is no longer living in Georgia she will be required to register as a sex offender, Marlow said.
