Female teacher Christine Knudsen who had sex with 17-year-old student avoids jail after former students sent letters to judge in support of her

A female high school teacher who had sex with a 17-year-old student has avoided jail after former students sent letters in support of her to the judge.

Christine Knudsen, 46, of New Jersey, was given a three-year suspended sentence for her sordid sexual relationship with a then 17-year-old girl for almost a year in 2017.

She is given life parole and forced to register as a sex offender. Knudsen is also prohibited from having any contact with the victim.

Her suspended sentence comes after her former Fair Lawn High School students sent letters outlining how positively Knudsen had impacted their lives, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Bollenbach.

Knudsen, who was a graphic arts teacher at the school for 21 years, met the 17-year-old student when she took over the school's drama club.

The former teacher admitted that their relationship became romantic and sexual between January and November 2017.

Although the 17-year-old student was an adult, she was considered a child because the relationship was with her teacher, who enjoyed the student's trust and was in a position of power.

“Parents send their children to school every day, confident that they will be safe in the care of their teachers,” Bergen County Judge Nina Remson said during the sentencing hearing last Wednesday.

“And there is a very strong need to deter not only Ms. Knudsen, but all citizens, from violations of the law, especially of this nature where there is a breach of trust between the teacher and the student.”

In exchange for a guilty plea, prosecutors asked that the second-degree crime be sentenced as a third-degree felony, and with the suspended sentence, Knudsen will only be sent to prison if she violates her parole.

If violated, the teacher, who also had to surrender her Garden State teaching certificate, would have to serve three years, Bergen County prosecutors said — plus the time imposed for the initial violation.

“You are hereby sentenced to a three-year suspension of the New Jersey State Penitentiary,” state court Judge Nina Remson said, six months after Knudsen pleaded guilty to the illegal sexual relationship.

“You are also sentenced to comply with the registration requirements of Megan's Law and to lifetime parole,” the lawyer continued, citing U.S. laws that require Knudsen to register as a sex offender in the near future.

“I'm going to give you a document telling you where to report to parole,” Remson added.

“I'm also going to enforce Nicole's restraining order, and you'll get a copy of that soon, too.”

Knudsen wore a face mask for the proceedings and could be heard sniffling during the judge's statement, which referenced a federal law that bars her from having any contact with the victim, who is now at least 22.

“You are not allowed to have any contact with the victim, whose initials are NK – of course you know who that is,” Remson repeated, in a story that would ultimately cause her to do some justice to the disgraced teacher.

'You are excluded from her residence, school, workplace, [and] You are prohibited from having any oral, written, personal, telephone, electronic or any other form of contact with her,” the judge added.

“And you are prohibited from engaging in harassing communications with the victim or inciting anyone to stalk or threaten the victim.

'Do you understand?' she asked — to which Knudsen, seated next to her lawyer, replied, “Yes, Your Honor.”

“You have already surrendered your teaching certificate, which was imposed as part of this sentence,” Remson added, before ending the hearing – and the case.

However, she first referred to allegations suggesting the teacher used controlled substances with the student, whom she claimed to have met while managing a drama club of which the victim was a member.

Prosecutors have not publicly released more information about the drugs or what they were, but accused the graphic arts teacher of “supplying and taking drugs.” [the] checked hazardous substances together with the student.'

“I'm also going to have you undergo a job evaluation, which will assess whether you need substance abuse treatment given what I saw in the criminal record,” Remson said during the sentencing.

'I don't know if that's an issue at the moment, but the report noted that there had been behavior in the past that was troubling in that regard.

“So if a treatment is recommended, you should adhere to that treatment.”

Remson admitted that the relationship would have technically been legal if it had not occurred in a school setting between an instructor and a student.

That's because the victim was 17 at the time, and the age of consent in the Garden State is 17.

That said, given the context of Knudsen's crimes and her position of power over the teen, the victim was considered a child for the conviction of the confessed sex offender.

Judge Remson said children could be easily influenced, especially if someone was older and in a position of authority as Knudsen had been.

She added to Knudsen – an employee at the school for 21 years before the scandal – that not only should she have ended the relationship when it began in 2017, but that it should not have started at all.

At Knudsen's previous hearing in July, she told the court how she met the teenager between January and November 2017, when she was assigned to supervise a drama club to which the victim belonged.

She admitted that during that period the relationship between her and the student became romantic and eventually sexual – a relationship that Bollenbach called disturbing because of its duration.

“These allegations are disturbing,” Bollenbach said of the months-long scheme, which fell apart after police received a series of tips from unknown onlookers.

“Not only did the defendant engage in criminal sexual activity with a female student, she also violated the public trust through this conduct.”

On Jan. 24, he called the plea deal “justice tempered with mercy” and said he was pleased that the teacher's conviction required her to forfeit her teaching license, essentially ending her career.

“So while this is certainly not a victimless crime — it is far from it — I hope Ms. Knudsen is deterred forever,” Bollenbach said.

'I think that is in the interest of the community as a whole and certainly of the students.'