By Associated Press
Mobile, AL – An official with the state pension plan says if convicted sex offender Charlene Schmitz staves off termination from her Washington County teaching job for another 2 1/2 years she will be able to retire with pension benefits for life.
The administrator of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, Mark Reynolds, said everybody's talking about how outrageous it is that she's collecting her salary, but she's also earning retirement credit.
A federal jury in Mobile convicted Schmitz in February 2008 of using a cell phone and a computer to entice a 14-year-old boy for sex, and U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose sentenced her to 10 years and a month in prison.
She was fired, but Alabama law requires an arbitrator to conduct a hearing and determine if the dismissal was justified.