Former Ravens Cheerleader Sentenced to 48 Weekends in Jail for Rape

That’s right—48 weekends in jail.

Once again proving the justice system is easier to navigate if you’re a blonde white woman, on Friday former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader Molly Shattuck received a 15-year suspended prison sentence for the rape of a teenage boy she met on Instagram.

The 48-year-old cheerleader met the 15-year-old boy in Bethany Beach, Maryland, during Labor Day weekend 2014. According to police reports, Shattuck had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with the boy, who attended the same school as her son, ultimately culminating in a sexual encounter.

Then the estranged wife of a prominent Baltimore businessman, who has since divorced, Shattuck was arrested last November on charges of third-degree rape, unlawful sexual contact and three counts of giving alcohol to minors—the victim and two of his friends.

Shattuck agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of fourth-degree rape—a single charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years and no mandatory minimum. Despite being lobbied by Deputy Attorney General John Donahue for a prison term upwards of two years, Superior Court Judge E. Scott Bradley was lenient.

In addition to the suspended sentence, of which she will have to serve 48 weekends in jail, Shattuck will have to pay $10,000 to the boy’d family and register as a sex offender for the next 20 years. As a Tier II sex offender in Delaware, she will be barred from having contact with anyone under the age of 18, except for her own three children.

Although the victim was not in court for the sentencing, his parents were both in attendance and petitioned the judge for a harsher punishment than was ultimately handed down.

“What she did to my son is heinous. The fact that she paraded her pedophilia in front of her own son is even more disturbing. Any adult who rapes a child deserves to be in prison. Please hold her accountable,” the mother said.

The boy’s father also addressed the court, detailing how shocked the family was to learn that his son’s “innocence” was stolen less than a mile away from their beach house. He added, “Never did it enter my mind what was happening.”

For her part, Shattuck skillfully walked the line between remorseful offender and persecuted victim. “I take full responsibility for what I did. I never, ever, ever intended, obviously, to hurt anybody,” she said. “I will spend the rest of my life making this right.”

Taking full responsibility is one thing, but something about her declarations rang hollow after her attorney build his defense on the fact that Shattuck’s husband had left her for a younger woman.