LAKE WORTH, FL – A mother of three pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sex with a 13-year-old boy and supplying alcohol to other teenagers who regularly hung out at her house west of Lake Worth while her husband worked.
Amy Duane, 37, agreed to a plea deal that will leave her fate in the hands of Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Jack Cook. She faces eight to 16 1/2 years in prison under state sentencing guidelines.
Sheriff’s detectives arrested Duane, a data entry processor at an elementary school, and her friend, Debra Favre, a Girl Scouts registrar, in May after both women admitted having sexual contact with boys at Duane’s home, according to court records. Neighborhood junior high and high school students told authorities that the two women allowed them to drink and smoke at the Pinion Drive house when Duane’s husband, a firefighter, wasn’t around.
Duane first told investigators that she and the victim were “really good friends,” but later professed her love for the boy.
Duane maintained that she had sex with the victim once, but the teenager indicated that the sexual relationship might have started up when he was 12, according to Sheriff’s Office reports. The teenager told authorities they had sex at least three times.
The victim’s mother said Tuesday that Duane — a woman they had considered a good neighbor — had an ongoing sexual relationship with her son. The family is still trying to heal from the damage done by Duane, the mother said. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not publishing the name of the mother to prevent identifying the victim, a juvenile.
The mother said she approved of the plea deal because her son didn’t want to go to court and she didn’t want him to go through the embarrassment of a trial.
Duane didn’t speak at any length at her court hearing as she pleaded guilty to a single count of lewd or lascivious battery and nine misdemeanors counts of sale of alcohol to persons under 21. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop a second count of lewd or lascivious battery.
Duane declined to talk as she left the courtroom with her attorney.
David Pleasanton, Duane’s attorney, said she took the plea because she didn’t want to further harm the victim by having him testify. The defense attorney said he anticipates Cook will sentence Duane during the second week of December, but no date has been set.
“She has always said it happened once, and she’s said she’s sorry,” Pleasanton said. “[The case] is sad for Amy Duane, sad for her family, sad for the boy, and it’s sad for his family and his parents.”
Duane’s family moved out of the neighborhood shortly after her arrest, and she is in counseling, he said. Pleasanton said he will ask Cook to give Duane a sentence lighter than eight years in prison because of “several mitigating circumstances.” He declined Tuesday to discuss what those circumstances are.
Pleasanton said Duane wasn’t throwing alcohol-fueled parties for the teenagers as has been reported.
“If you look at the teenagers involved, it’s been said that if they weren’t drinking at her place, they would have been drinking someplace else,” Pleasanton said. “It wasn’t so much as her going out and actively supplying the alcohol as it was them helping themselves to it and her not having the fortitude to tell them, `No, you need to leave.'”
Teenagers told authorities that when they drank alcohol at Duane’s house they had to abide by “Amy’s Rule” — they couldn’t get out-of-control drunk.
Favre, 39, still faces a single felony count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and four misdemeanor counts of sale of alcohol to persons under 21. Court documents indicate Favre admitted to having sex with a 16-year-old boy. EE.