Court Watching: Former school teacher sentenced, will be on Sex Offenders list

By Diane Madigan
Independent Court Reporter
The official sentencing of former North Middle School teacher Andrea Brennan occurred Tuesday at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.
Brennan was arrested on July 10, 2012 at 1:30 a.m. in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Beck Baseball field with a 15-year-old male. According to the police, both were consuming alcohol.
The Hon. Edward Ewell Jr. agreed to follow the sentence agreement between Brennan’s attorney Loren Dickstein and Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lora Weingarden.
The agreement dismissed the original misdemeanor charge of selling/furnishing alcohol to a minor and a felony charge of distributing obscene matter to a child with a maximum four-year prison sentence.
In return, Brennan pleaded guilty to using a computer to commit a crime in which she sent a topless photo of herself to a 15-year-old.
Prior to being sentenced, Brennan said, “I am extremely sorry, especially for the effect it has had on my family and children.” There was no mention of the victim.
Brennan’s sentence as a convicted sex offender requires her to register on Michigan’s sex offender list for the next 25 years. She will continue her twice-a-month sex offender counseling with Matthew Rosenberg.
According Rosenberg’s online profile, he is a psychotherapist and forensic evaluator for sexual abuse and abusers.
Judge Ewell placed Brennan on probation for 5 years; she is to have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised visits with children under the age of 16.
She cannot reside, work or loiter within 1,000 feet of a school safety zone. Deviating slightly from Michigan’s Sex Offender Act, in this case the word “loiter” will not include picking-up her children or attending parent-teacher conferences.
At the discretion of the probation department, Brennan must allow her computer and property to be searched. Brennan is allowed to visit with out-of-state family. She also will be required to pay fees and court costs totaling $1,198.
Brennan’s attorney read from a statement from psychotherapist Rosenberg that said Brennan voluntarily submitted to a polygraph test that indicated that she had no physical contact with the minor. Her therapist gave her a battery of tests which indicated that she scored very low risk to re-offend, was genuinely remorseful for her crime, and no predatory behaviors were found.