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A former Weimar High School employee charged with having an improper relationship as an educator with a student accepted a guilty plea deal Aug. 21, officials said.
Morgan Amelia Brenner received five years deferred adjudication, a $325 fine, 10 days of jail, probation with fees and was ordered to have no contact with the victim, according to court records.
She is no longer employed by the high school or the district. Officials there declined to comment on the case.
The Weimar Police Department opened an investigation Nov. 18, 2023, after receiving a complaint through the high school, said Sgt. Josh Jones, the lead investigator.
“Through the investigative process, we determined that there was enough there to validate the complaints after speaking to multiple witnesses, speaking to the victim … and the suspect,” Jones said.
According to legal documents, the relationship between Brenner and the victim was sexual. Under Texas law, the offense does not consider the student’s age, even if a learner is legally an adult.
Colorado County District Attorney Jay Johannes said Brenner was 22 at the time while the student was 17.
Johannes said justice was delivered.
“She was not a teacher, she was an office worker and was 22 at the time,” Johannes said. “The student was 17. The relationship would have been legal if she worked any place else besides that school district. It is not a sexual assault, it is illegal because she works for the school district. I feel the sentence was appropriate.”
Though police conducted the probe, no initial charges were filed and instead the case was taken before a Colorado County grand jury, which handed up an indictment.
Under Texas law, the charge is a second-degree felony and is punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Entering a plea bargain allows a defendant and prosecutors to settle a criminal charge, avoid a lengthy trial and lessen a prison sentence or jail time, according to legal experts.
