Photo by  Kelsey Peterson

Photo by  Fernando Rodriguez

The former Lexington teacher accused of having sex with her 13-year-old student then fleeing to Mexico was sentenced today to six years in prison.

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Peterson, 26, pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges of traveling with a person younger than 18 to have sex.

Peterson will also have five years of supervised release after she is released from federal prison.

Peterson and the boy, Fernando Rodriguez who was 12 when their relationship began but is now 14, were apprehended Nov. 2, 2007, after fleeing to Mexico on Oct. 26, 2007, a day after her employers placed her on administrative leave pending an investigation of her alleged relationship with a student.

Peterson withdrew $2,500 cash from her bank accounts and drove to Mexico with Fernando. She was eventually located by a fugitive-chasing police officer.

Peterson was a sixth-grade math teacher and an assistant coach of the Lexington High varsity girls' basketball team. The case was thrust into the national spotlight.

Peterson told U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp that she took responsibility for what she did.

“But I am not a sexual predator,” Peterson said at sentencing. “That’s not who I am.”

Camp said she did not consider Peterson a sexual predator but that her maturity “seems to be on the level of a junior high student.”

Peterson is expected to serve about four years in prison after being given credit for one year already spent in jail and getting another year off for good behavior.