Woman spared jail after she raped daughter's 13-year-old boyfriend
Judge Robert Young says jailing Elaine Goodman was 'not the answer'
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Your support makes all the difference.A woman has been spared jail after she admitted to raping her daughter's 13-year-old boyfriend.
Elaine Goodman, 46, faced up to 15 years in prison but was sentenced to two years' probation.
But while a judge at Kent County Superior Court in Delaware said her action was "an aberration", he did not think jailing her was the answer.
Goodman pleaded guilty to fourth degree rape, acknowledging that she met the boy after he snuck out of his home in the early hours of one morning in March 2015.
After driving around for a while, the boy revealed in an interview that the pair had become intimate and she "took his you-know-what and put it in her you-know-what," according to court documents.
Goodman, of Dover, Delaware, was arrested in November 2015 after police examined text messages she had exchanged with a friend, including one that said: "I asked him what in the world are u doing with a body like that at 13".
She told the court: "I know sorry is just a word, but I really am. I know I hurt people and that is terrible."
Passing the light sentence Judge Robert Young said she had been compassionate in looking after her elderly parents and community members.
"This came out of the blue," he said. "The crime is egregious and affected the victim and his family, which was taken into account. But incarceration is not the answer."
But deputy attorney general Denise Weeks-Tappan said: "This mom, who [the boy] trusted, instructed him on what to do.
"The crime has affected the victim in many ways. He's hurt, embarrassed and it is affecting his schooling.
"When the defendant committed this crime, she took something away from him. He was not a willing participant, but a victim."