‘All the candy you need is right here’ Former Pennsylvania teacher Lauren Harrington-Cooper jailed for student sex

A MARRIED former high school teacher has been jailed after pleading guilty to having sex with two students and two counts of corrupting minors, including showing her breasts.

Lauren Harrington-Cooper, a 32-year-old who taught English at Wyoming Valley West High in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, allegedly told a student in class: “All the candy you need is right here,” The Citizens Voice reported.

Harrington-Cooper will register as a sex offender and spend between nine months and 23 months in prison after she admitted to having sex with an 18-year-old and performing oral sex on another boy, 17.

She also had X-rated text message exchanges with two other boys, 16 and 17.

In sentencing, Luzee County Judge Michael Vough said Harrington-Cooper used her position of trust to exploit children.

A registered sex offender for the next 25 years, Harrington-Cooper is not able to teach or work with children again. She quit her position as an English teacher on January 22 and Pennsylvania Department of Education last month suspended her teaching licence.

Happier times ... Former high school teacher Lauren Harrington-Cooper and her husband, Raphael Cooper. Picture: Facebook Source: Facebook

“She’s no different than a male predator,” Luzee County Detective Chaz Balogh, who investigated the matter, told The Citizen’s Voice.

“She did the same thing except she’s a female, which makes this case a little unique.”

Harrington-Cooper’s attoey, Joe D’Andrea, said in a letter to the court that she suffered from a crippling lack of self-confidence.

“She has been diagnosed with some significant psychological issues of inadequacy,” D’Andrea said.

“You would think that she’s a pretty, young girl, that she would feel good about herself. But her self-esteem issues have really troubled her all of her life, and she found comfort and solace in some people giving her attention, as wrong as it was.”

Her sentence will range between 9 months and 23 months.