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E-mails describe teacher-student affair

A Lecanto High School teacher and student, both female, wrote to each other about being in love.

By EDDY RAMIREZ and DAWN REISS
Published December 3, 2005

LECANTO - By the time an anonymous caller alerted authorities, a 36-year-old Lecanto High School business teacher and 15-year-old student at the school had developed more that a sexual relationship.

In more than 60 e-mails, Amy Lilley and the student discussed being in love and growing old together. They planned to take a cruise after the girl's high school graduation, to move in together, to get married.

Copies of the e-mails were among documents prosecutors collected as evidence in their case against Lilley, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of lewd and lascivious battery. She was arrested Nov. 4 and is free on bail while awaiting trial. Lilley faces up to 15 years in prison.

Some of the e-mails were sent from Lecanto High. The student made calls during lunchtime and sent e-mails during class.

"But the bell just rang so I will talk more with you later," the student wrote on Sept. 20.

On Oct. 11, Lilley wrote, "Here's your morning e-mail and you don't even have a computer class this morning so who knows when you'll be reading this."

Lilley declined to comment for this story through her attorney, Michael Blackstone. She has resigned from her teaching job.

The girl and her father, who are not being identified because of the nature of the charge, also declined to comment.

According to court records, Lilley and the girl began carrying on conversations over the phone in June while the girl was visiting relatives in Maryland. In one month, the girl racked up a $300 bill using her stepfather's cell phone. The girl was entering her sophomore year at Lecanto.

The relationship became physical when the girl kissed Lilley in September, according to a transcript of the girl's interview with sheriff's investigators. Over the next several months, the two performed several sex acts, including oral sex, that transcript said.

Meanwhile, the two exchanged e-mails expressing strong feelings for each other. Few e-mails contained explicit references to sex. Instead, they showed two people who felt a strong emotional, even spiritual and religious, connection.

Lilley at times assumed the role of coach, encouraging the student to pursue her dreams and work hard as an athlete.

Lilley also confided in the girl, telling her about her struggles to recover from a former relationship and improve her career.

She considered seeking an assistant principal post at the Withlacoochee Technical Institute, but was insecure about her prospects. "Where the hell is my life headed?" Lilley asked in one e-mail. She credits the girl, writing, "You have no clue the impact that you have on my life."

As Lilley dealt with her breakup with another woman, the student tried to console her.

"I love you so much," the student wrote. "And I know you can't just forget about her b/c (because) you are better then that, but YOU have ME!!! and I will make you more happy then she could ever think about."

Lilley expressed her concerns over her previous relationships.

"I just need to make sure that I don't screw this one up or the ones around me," Lilley wrote. "I need to make sure that I keep everything balanced and not get obsessed with you. I have a tendency of doing that."

The two made plans to be together.

"I want to wine you and dine you and show you the world," Lilley wrote.

In another e-mail, Lilley wrote, "You're the one that I want to fight with and then make up with minutes later. You're the one I want to have a paint fight with or wrestle with or tickle. You're the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with and go on adventures with."

The two also shared a spiritual bond. Their e-mails were coated with religious references. They wrote of attending church and watching The Passion of the Christ .

In one of the last e-mails, just days before her arrest, Lilley told the student that "I know things can be a little stressful and unfair in our lives.

"But, that's what happens when there are people who disapprove and out to get people like us."

--Dawn Reiss can be reached at 860-7303 or dreiss@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 01:22:20]