A former Hill City music teacher will relinquish her teaching license, spend two days in jail and seek psychiatric counseling in exchange for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a minor.

Sommar Chaffee, 31, of Hill City, was originally charged with felony solicitation and felony sexual exploitation of a minor. If convicted of either charge, she could have served up to two years in prison.

Chaffee’s attorney Tim Rensch appeared on her behalf in magistrate court Monday morning to make Chaffee’s plea and accept her penalty.

Rensch said the charges were very “defensible,” but his client was pleading guilty to the Class 1 misdemeanor for the “benefit of the plea.”

The text messages involved “weren’t that bad,” Rensch said, but his client chose to not fight the charges rather than put a child through a trial.

Deputy Pennington County States Attorney Lara Roetzel said the likelihood of prosecuting the case was, at the best “limited,” because all but one of the alleged victims were unwilling to cooperate.

Roetzel said in court Monday that Chaffee was charged after an intense investigation that revealed she had inappropriate sexual contact with three students.

All of those students were older than 16 and were uncooperative with the investigation because of their feelings for Chaffee, Roetzel said.

According to Roetzel, Chaffee also sent text messages with sexual innuendos to six boys. In two cases, there was enough evidence to bring charges, but one boy refused to cooperate, Roetzel said.

With the cooperation of the second youth and his mother, charges were filed against Chaffee earlier this summer. Those charges were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.

According to a letter from the victim’s mother, Chaffee sent messages to the boy when he was 14, Roetzel told Seventh District Court Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue.

Roetzel said Chaffee’s text messages were “inappropriate and of a sexual nature.”

Roetzel asked Bogue to impose some jail time, saying it was important for Chaffee to have a “taste of the consequences.”

Bogue sentenced Chaffee to 180 days in jail, but he suspended all but two days. Chaffee was fined $400 and ordered to pay court costs. She can have no contact with the victim. Chaffee must undergo psychiatric treatment with her physician and report to the court every four months for one year.

Roetzel urged the judge to order the psychiatric counseling.

“This inappropriate behavior comes from some root problem,” Roetzel said.

Speaking for his client, Rensch called Chaffee a fragile individual and admitted she was institutionalized for a while.

“She is dealing with it,” Rensch said.

Chaffee is voluntarily relinquish her teaching license, but giving it up could be fundamental because she is subject to a state review board if a formal complaint is filed against her.

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com.