Naughty teacher's husband caught peeping on inmates at jail - wife sentenced to 4 to 20 for sex abuse of boy

(Original Post 10-28-09)
A suspected voyeur in the Ada County (Idaho) Sheriff's Department is charged with sending inappropriate photos of female inmates to his wife. The wife is a former Meridian, ID teacher who was convicted of having sex with a 13 year old boy.

Forty year old Shawn Beach is charged with 2 counts of video voyeurism and faces 5 years in prison. He took the photos with his cell phone camera while working behind the monitors at the jail. Shawn then sent these photos to his wife Ashley. During the investigation into her "affair" with a 13 year old male student, forensic investigators found the photos of the inmates.

"They are images of the back side of an inmate that is nude and the other one inmate is sitting on a bench may or may have not have their pants down...Took images of that for no good reason and sent them outside of the organization. That alone led to his termination," said Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney. Beach had worked as jail support staff for 18 years.

Meridian Police Lieutenant Tracy Basterrechea said that even though photos, not videos were involved, the case still falls under the video voyeurism law. "She was in the state of undress. She didn't know the image was being transmitted from one cell phone to another."

According to Sheriff Raney, "Whether or not Shawn's actions will ultimately cause him to be convicted of a crime or not, this former employee violated the trust and values that the other 620 members of this organization live by every day. That's not acceptable here."

Shawn's 37 year old wife Ashley plead guilty to lewd conduct with a minor under 16 a week ago today, and faces up to life in prison. Prosecutors, however, are seeking a 20 year sentence with parole eligibility in 7 years. She was caught in the bushes with a 13 year old boy on September 17, and investigators later found that she had a sexual relationship with her victim for 6 months. She'll be sentenced December 22 by 4th District Judge Ronald Wilper.

(Update 12-30-09) Ashley Beach was sentenced to 4 to 20 years in prison yesterday by 4th District Judge Ronald Wilper. Besides the "relationship" with the 13 year old boy, Ashley also admitted inapropriate, though nonsexual, relationships with 5 other kids, including a girl who she took drinking at 2:30 AM.

Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Jean Fisher said that Ashley "was a woman who lost her way. It shows that there are other things going on that are out of control." Judge Wilper said that the now convicted sex offender would not be able to be a hands-on mother anymore. "You are going to be a mother who won't know her children other than visiting days. On the other hand ... you are still alive."

Ashley said to Judge Wilper that "I was thankful I was caught, because it was a train wreck I couldn't stop on my own."