A supply teacher who sent naked photos to a 15-year-old boy saying she wanted to have sex with him has been locked up.
Married mother-of-one Natalie Arroyo told the ‘vulnerable’ boy she would leave her husband for him and sent him a video of herself performing a sex act.
The 33-year-old began sending sexual messages to the underage teenager on Snapchat while she was working as a progress coach and a supply teacher.
Cardiff Crown Court heard that at first, the conversation was ‘innocent’ but she later began to flirt, telling him: ‘I bet all the boys fancy me. I don’t blame them – I have really big boobs.’
The court heard that the victim told the teacher that he didn’t want to sleep with her but she tried to convince him otherwise.
Arroyo – from the village of Gelli in Rhondda, Wales – sent pictures of herself in a bra and had him send a naked picture in response.
She later asked the boy to come and meet her for sex and said she would pick him up and could go back to her house.
The young victim asked her to stop sending photos as he was out shopping with his mother and aunt and she responded: ‘It’s so fun to tease you.’
The teenager told the court he ‘trusted her’ and feels ‘betrayed and taken advantage of’ but he ‘didn’t know how to stop it’.
She was sentenced to three years and four months in prison. The judge told her: ‘You knew [the victim] was vulnerable and you exploited that. You deployed guile and cunning to manipulate that boy.’
Married mother-of-one Natalie Arroyo told a ‘vulnerable’ boy she would leave her husband for him and sent him a video of herself performing a sex act
Cardiff Crown Court heard that at first, the conversation was ‘innocent’ but she later began to flirt, telling him: ‘I bet all the boys fancy me. I don’t blame them – I have really big boobs’
Prosecutor Andrew Kendall said Arroyo sent pictures of her bare breasts and asked the boy if he ‘had any kinks’ and said she ‘liked to be dominated’.
Arroyo continued to send messages of a sexual nature and told the victim he could ‘do whatever he wanted to her’.
She sent the boy another nude photo and asked him to come and see her as her husband was at work.
He said he didn’t want to and the defendant responded by sending a video of herself performing a sex act. A couple of days later Arroyo sent a message to the boy saying it was ‘best to forget about the messages’.
The offences came to light after the victim disclosed the abuse to another adult and Arroyo was arrested. She was interviewed and initially denied having contact with the boy but after a break she accepted she had sent the messages but claimed she thought the boy was 16.
Arroyo later pleaded guilty to two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual communication with a child. The court heard she was of previous good character.
In a victim personal statement read to the court by Mr Kendall, the teenager said: ‘I have suffered with anxiety and suffered a breakdown. I stopped wanting to go out with friends and felt upset about the situation as I’ve become known as the boy this has happened to.
‘Children have come up to me and asked about it and they think it’s funny and something to laugh about. I felt I was at fault at first and had no one to talk about it with. I trusted her… I feel betrayed and taken advantage of. I didn’t know how to stop it.’
In mitigation, Ruth Smith said her client had faced huge adversity in her life having had difficulty in her childhood, abusive relationships, and experienced bullying at school. As an adult she suffered miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies and has PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
She also has a young child with her husband who, in a reference to the court, described her offences as a ‘moment of madness’.
Judge Eugene Egan said he disagreed with this description. He said: ‘You have blamed the boy in the past, you had an unimpressive interview with probation, and you are unable to grasp the enormity of what you did.
‘You have a ‘woe is me’ attitude. You knew [the victim] was vulnerable and you exploited that. You deployed guile and cunning to manipulate that boy.’
Arroyo was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a restraining order.