Shelley Dufresne and Rachel Respess, both Louisiana high school English teachers, were arrested Wednesday over charges of having a menage a' trois with a 16-year-old student.

The case is rocking both educational and legal circles. Dufresne, 32, an English teacher at Destrehan High School in a New Orleans suburb, is the daughter of the 29th Judicial District Court Judge Emile St. Pierre.

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The original judge assigned the case, Lauren Lemmon, excused herself due to her workplace association with St. Pierre, but not before granting Dufresne $200,000 bail late Tuesday on a Friday charge related to the same boy.

Judge Michele Moreal took over the case. However, he is running for re-election. This may cause him to back away from the controversial case. 

Dufresne and 24-year-old Respess, a fellow Destrehan English teacher, are accused of having sex with a juvenile, indecent behavior with a juvenile, and contributing to the juvenile's delinquency. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to anything from no prison time to 17 1/2 years in prison.

The three staged their version of a French cinema event at Respess' place, 1354 W.Esplanade Ave. in suburban Kenner located near the high school. Dufresne also allegedly had sex with the boy at her home at Montz, St. Charles Parish.

The two women were friends. Dufresne taught the boy this year. Respess was his teacher last year. Authorities first became alerted to the case when the male student started "bragging" to other students about the affair. Rumors also said video of the encounters existed.

School officials went to detectives who determined the sex was consensual. However, Louisiana's legal age of consent is 17 years.

Detectives said Respess had given a statement that was "almost" a confession while Dufresne hadn't commented.

St. Charles public school officials said they were fully cooperating with the Sheriff's Office. The school system suspended the teachers without pay.

Tagsshelley dufresne, Rachel Respess, underage sex, teacher-student sex