Mary Kay Letourneau Remains a Registered Sex Offender
Former Seattle schoolteacher Mary Kay Letourneau — whose notorious sexual relationship with her 12-year-old student landed her in prison for more than seven years — remains on the sex offender registry in King County, Washington, PEOPLE confirms.
Her registration has a lifetime requirement, according to King County sheriff’s Sgt. Cindi West.
But Letourneau is now a level one offender, which is the lowest of three levels, West says. She dropped from her original level two status because it has been so many years since her last offense.
On Tuesday, PEOPLE learned that Letourneau’s husband, Vili Fualaau, had filed for separation.
The couple wed in May 2005 after she was released from prison, where she had served a seven-and-a-half year sentence on two counts of second-degree child rape in connection with her relationship wth Fualaau, which began in 1996 when he was her sixth-grade student and she was 34.
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Speaking to ABC’s Barbara Walters in 2015, Letourneau said she would like to get her name taken off the registry and one day resume teaching.
“Recently I said, ‘It’s been 10 years, why don’t I lift that?’ ” she told Walters at the time. “There’s a process, there’s a form. You take it to court and then they grant it if it looks like it should be granted.”
Under state law, some — but not all — sex offenders can seek their removal from the registry after a predetermined amount of time has passed, depending on their offenses and if they have not offended again.
West says that Letourneau would have to petition the court to change her lifetime registration requirement.
