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10 Year Prison Sentence For Teacher Who Repeatedly Contacted Victim

Pualski County Sheriff's Office

Former Mount St. Mary Academy teacher and volleyball coach Kelly O'Rourke, who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a student, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for repeatedly contacting the victim.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Judge Barry Sims said he was coming down hard on the teacher for willfully disregarding the court’s no-contact order after pleading guilty in the case.

Last month O’Rourke pleaded guilty to violating the terms of her original sentence and read a statement in court apologizing for her actions.

O’Rourke is alleged to have called the student more than 50 times while serving a four month sentence.

The judge said he listened to recordings of some of the calls, in which O’Rourke said she wanted the victim in her life as her girlfriend.

Last month a school administrator also entered a guilty plea for failing to report the relationship to police.

Michael Hibblen was a journalist for KUAR News from May 2009 — December 2022. During his final 10 years with the station, he served as News Director. In January 2023, he was hired by Arkansas PBS to become its Senior Producer/ Director of Public Affairs.