Video After The Jump
Via Star-Telegram
Former Kennedale High School teacher Brittni Colleps insists she's not a sexual predator but says she feels like a victim after students she engaged in group sex with made a video of it without her consent.
Colleps spoke out in an interview that aired Friday on ABC's 20/20 -- her first public comments since being sentenced to five years in prison last month. She was convicted of 16 felony counts of improper relationship between an educator and student.
Prosecutors say Colleps had sexual relations with five of her students, including a group sexual encounter with four that was videotaped. The video was shown to jurors during the trial.
During the 20/20 interview, Colleps, who turned 29 on Thursday, was dressed in a pale yellow jail garb, with "Tarrant County" stenciled on the leg. She remains in the jail awaiting transfer to prison.
Correspondent Deborah Roberts asks the married mother of three what part of inappropriate did she not get?
"It's not that I didn't get it," Colleps said. "I should never be able to teach again."
But Colleps also said that she didn't believe she deserved prison. She said all the students were 18 or older -- consenting adults.
Colleps added, "I felt like I was victimized in that video, because I did not, I never gave my consent for it."
To explain her behavior, the former teacher said people go through "rough patches" in their lives and that's what happened to her. Her husband, Christopher, was out of state with the Army when the group sex happened.
He, too, was interviewed, and the 20/20 cameras followed him to the jail where, he said, he visits his wife daily.
Christopher Colleps and wife Brittni
"A lot of people don't know what unconditional love is, or how to love unconditionally," he said.
He said his wife having to one day explain her actions to their children should be punishment enough.
Colleps' appellate attorney has filed a motion for a new trial, court records show.
Brittni Colleps 20/20 interview Pt. 1
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