A former Miss Kentucky winner is now a registered sex offender… for life.
Ramsey Carpenter-Bearse admitted to sexting a teenage boy when she was working as a teacher.
She was accused of sending the student topless photos, which she later admitted to. The student was only in middle school.
This did not happen in Kentucky, but in West Virginia when she was working there as a teacher.
The teen, who is unnamed, did not report the teacher. The sexting was discovered when the teen's parents were going through his phone and discovered the photos.
Now, Ramsey Carpenter-Bearse must spend 2 years in prison and is also a registered sex offender.
More details on this shocking story below:
This apparently wasn't a one-time incident.
According to phone records, Ramsey Carpenter-Bearse and the student were exchanging photos for up to 3 months.
Carpenter-Bearse defended herself by claiming that she initially thought she was sending the photos to her husband.
The Blaze reports:
Bearse admitted to exchanging sexual photos with a middle school student when she was working as a West Virginia school teacher.
Bearse initially told authorities that she meant to send an explicit photo to her husband, but inadvertently sent it to the teen's phone. She insisted that the student pressed her for more photos, and she complied because she was "afraid to not appease him."
She reportedly exchanged photos with the teen for a period of three months in 2018. Authorities arrested the former beauty queen after the unnamed teen's parent discovered the images on the child's phone.
"The young man's name was listed next to my husband's on my phone," Bearse explained. "From there, he asked me for more and I panicked. I was afraid to not appease him. When he asked for more, I sent him more photos of me which led to him sending a photo of his privates."
A judge at Kanawha County Circuit Court sentenced Bearse to two years in prison on Tuesday, as well as 10 years of supervised release. Bearse must also register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
According to WOWK-TV, Bearse pleaded guilty to one count of possessing material depicting minors in a sexually explicit conduct in December 2019. She was initially charged with four counts of sending obscene material to a minor.
At the time, Bearse said, "I messed up big-time."
"I didn't keep any of the photos of him or forward them to anyone else," Bearse insisted. "But, I did receive them and I did compliment him in a way which made it look like I did want them, because again I was afraid to not appease him. Since I am the adult and he is just a teenager, it was definitely my fault and I accept the blame for the situation."
Bearse is set to report to Lakin Correctional Center and Jail on Monday.
A spokesperson for the Kanawha County school district said that Bearse is no longer employed there.
This story breaks as the country grapples with the ongoing ripples of the #MeToo movement.
The fascination around Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell has also made cases like this of greater interest to the public.
In any other time, this story would have likely been a bigger deal.
However, the nation continues to grapple with the Black Lives Matter movement, COVID-19, and the upcoming presidential election.
But the story is slowly gaining traction in the pressl
People recently covered the hearing:
A former Miss Kentucky beauty queen who admitted to exchanging sexual photos with a teenage student when she was working as a West Virginia school teacher has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Ramsey Carpenter-Bearse, 29, pleaded guilty in December to a charge of possessing material depicting minors in sexually explicit conduct. “Since I am the adult, and he was just a teenager, it is my fault, and I accept full blame for the situation,” she said as she pleaded guilty. "I messed up big-time."
Carpenter-Bearse was crowned Miss Kentucky in 2014. After her reign, she began working as a teacher in West Virginia. According to a 2018 press release issued by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, Carpenter-Bearse was charged with distributing obscene materials to a minor.
“Mrs. Bearse sent obscene photographs of herself to a 15-year-old who was a former student of hers at Andrew Jackson Middle School,” the release read.
According to a criminal complaint, the student’s parents informed authorities that they had found lewd pictures on the boy’s phone. The pictures, which were allegedly sent via Snapchat, had been saved to the phone’s camera roll.
Under her maiden name of Carpenter, Carpenter-Bearse won the Miss Kentucky pageant after she impressed judges by playing the fiddle. In 2015, she placed in the top twelve of the national Miss America pageant.
Carpenter-Bearse had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2010. As part of her platform, she said that she wanted to raise awareness and research funds for the illness. During her reign as Miss Kentucky, she served as a spokeswoman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Bearse said that she takes "full responsibility" for her actions.
This is not the first time that a former Miss Kentucky has been arrested.
The last time this happened was in 2017, when Kia Hampton was caught smuggling marijuana into a prison for an inmate.
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