A 50-year-old Central Florida woman is accused of engaging in a year-long sexual relationship with a teenager.
Diana Day of Homosassa, Fla., is charged with lewd and lascivious battery and being held on $10,000 bond.
According to Citrus County deputies, on Dec. 29, the now 15-year-old boy and his pastor reported the sexual relationship to authorities.
The victim told deputies a sexual relationship with Day began in August 2014 and continued for a year.
The boy was just 14-years-old at the time the relationship allegedly began.
According to the victim, Day first engaged in sex acts with him in her bed but added there were numerous other sexual encounters that took place in Day's two cars and motor home.
Day declined to answer questions with authorities, deputies say.
Neighbors told WFTS-TV in Tampa that Day is married and a mother of two.
"You never expect anyone to do something like that," said Darcy Brener.
Brener says Day home schooled her children, was a dedicated member of a nearby church and someone who held youth Bible study at her home.
"It is disgusting. It is the only way I can put it. It is disgusting," Brener said.
According to Brener, she would often see groups of children at the home.
"I can't imagine what this child is going through or the parents, he'll be scarred for life," Brener added.
WFTS-TV knocked at Day's door. A man answered but declined comment.
PSYCHOLOGIST: 'WE DON'T WANT TO VIEW WOMEN AS EVIL OR BAD SEEDS'
Psychologist Dr. Bo Travis has evaluated sex offenders for the past 20 years.
He says while women make up a far fewer percentage of sex offenders, they do commit sex crimes. Travis explained male sex offenders and female sex offenders are held to a different standard in society.
"Women in society are typically viewed as nurturers," said Travis. "We don't want to see women as evil, as bad seeds."
The U.S. Department of Justice reports female pedophiles who act on their sexual desires make up less than four percent of sex abuse cases nationwide.
He added there is a lot of sympathy towards women and feels this contributes to a lot of cases against women never going to court.
"Women are nurturers and men are seen as dogs, abusers," he said.
Travis explained how an older woman's illegal interactions with an underage boy are described differently.
"When they talk about sex offenses involving older females and younger males they usually talk about it in terms of a relationship, they had a sexual relationship. If they talk about a man sexually abusing a younger female they don't even talk about it in terms of relationship at all," Travis explained.
Travis says parents need to worry about their sons just as much as they worry about their daughters falling prey to an older man or woman.
"The sons are given free reign much more so than our women and that is a cultural artifact also, that men go and sow their wild oats. It's an old storyline but it is still there in people's perceptions. It is hard to get away from that. It is part of our zeitgeist," he said.
Travis says women offenders differ from many because often times they abuse with other people and in front of other people.
The largest difference between male and female sex offenders, according to Travis, are the recidivism rates.
"Females, once they have been through the system, once they have been caught, they sexually re-offend at a rate between one or two percent over five years. Men sexually re-offend at a rate five times greater than that," Travis added.
