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Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Brittany Zamora appeared in court on Monday. Her voice barely audible, she pleaded guilty to three felony charges: sexual conduct with a minor, molestation of a child and public sexual indecency.
Zamora, 28, was a former teacher at Las Brisas Academy. Now, she’s a convicted felon and sex offender who faces up to 30 years in prison.
In March 2018, the stepmother of a 13-year-old boy noticed that he was acting suspiciously and wanting to shut his door at night. She installed a parental monitoring app called “Sentry” on his phone and subsequently began getting alerts about inappropriate texts, so she confronted the boy. He told his stepmother that he had sexual contact with his sixth-grade teacher.
The stepmother called police. Zamora was soon arrested on suspicion of having sex with the boy.
In court documents first obtained by the Arizona Republic, authorities allege that the married Zamora calculatingly groomed the boy for sex through special attention, X-rated texts and naked photos of herself.
It Started With a Class Chatroom
According to a police report, Zamora set up a class chatroom called “Class Craft.” The boy told police that Zamora announced that she wasn’t going to be at school, so she asked her students to text her because she would be “bored.”
Zamora and the boy began to talk in the chatroom, but soon moved to private messaging and texts.
At some point, the texts became sexual; Zamora sent naked photos and at least one picture of herself wearing lingerie.
Racy Text Messages
The Maricopa County Police released screenshots of texts allegedly sent between Zamora and the teen.
During one exchange, Zamora allegedly asked the teen what he was doing. “Thinking about your sexy self,” he responded.
“Aww baby,” she replied, adding heart emojis. “I wish you were with me.”
“I want you bby,” the teen allegedly responded. “When can we [expletive] again?”
“I want you too baby so bad,” she responded. “Whenever we can you know I’m down…I want you every day with no time limit.”
Brazen Acts
As the illegal relationship proceeded, Zamora allegedly had sex with the boy several times.
Things soon became more daring.
Police say Zamora played an educational video during one of her classes. While other students watched the video, police say that Zamora and the victim sexually fondled each other in the back of the classroom.
On another day, the victim and his friend stayed after school to prepare for a talent show. When the two boys were alone with Zamora in her classroom, they told police Zamora began kissing the boy, and asked his friend to stay in the room and be a lookout before they had sex.
“They were just doing it,” the friend allegedly told police. “It was very uncomfortable.”
The next day, police say, Zamora and the alleged victim again asked the friend to watch, but he refused.
“It’s, like, weird how a 27-year-old can, like, love a 13-year-old and do stuff,” the friend told police. “It’s just crazy. She’s not a good person.”
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A Frantic Phone Call to the Boy’s Parents
As things began to close in on Zamora, she and her husband allegedly reached out to the boy’s family to try to prevent her from getting into trouble.
According to a police report, the student’s father claimed he received a phone call from Zamora and her husband “pleading with him not to contact the police.”
The dad alleged that Zamora’s husband offered to “meet up” and “settle this,” but he refused and hung up the phone.
PEOPLE has been unable to reach Zamora’s husband.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Zamora surrendered her state teaching certificate last December. She was initially charged with two counts of molestation of a child, one count of furnishing harmful material and nine counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Under the plea agreement, she could spend up to 30 years in prison.
Zamora will be sentenced on July 12. Her attorney did not immediately return a message for comment.
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