GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - A former Gridley school teacher was sentenced to four years in state prison on July 18 for having sex with a 14-year-old boy who was her student in June 2021.

Michelle Christine Solis, 46, was sentenced to the maximum term by Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Deems, following her plea to one count of sex with a minor.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the charge stems from conduct during the boy’s eighth-grade year at Sycamore Junior High School in Gridley. Solis was the boy’s teacher. She “friended” him on Instagram at the time and began messaging him in the weeks leading up to his graduation. Evidence showed Solis sent the boy four explicit photos of herself before having sexual intercourse with him in her classroom on the day of the boy’s eighth-grade graduation.

Rumors and copies of one of the photographs began to circulate in the Gridley community in October 2023. A Gridley Police investigation ensued and investigators contacted the boy and reviewed the his phone’s content. There, they found communication between Solis and the boy, including two explicit photographs of Solis that matched the descriptions the boy previously provided.

In court July 18, Solis’ attorney asked the judge to give his client probation, citing the incident as only “one act.” The District Attorney’s Office argued the upper term in state prison was appropriate, due to the 29-year age difference between Solis and the boy, Solis’ position as a trusted community member and a pattern of conduct amounting to “grooming.” The District Attorney’s Office pointed to Solis’ special treatment of the boy in school, the numerous social media contacts between Solis and the boy, Solis’ directions to delete their communications, and the explicit photographs Solis sent to the boy before initiating sexual intercourse.

Ramsey said Solis was previously remanded to the Butte County Jail on June 27, after her attorney requested a continuance of the sentencing hearing. She will be transported to the state prison within a week. Solis will be required to register as a sex offender and was ordered to stay away from the victim for 10 years.