A onetime high school music teacher has been sentenced in Dakota County to six months in jail for having sex with a 17-year-old student.

The sentence imposed Monday on Christine L. Funk, 32, of New Hope, by Dakota County District Judge Richelle Wahi also includes a stayed three-year prison term, 10 years of probation and the requirement that she register as a predatory offender.

Funk, who taught at Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights, pleaded guilty in April to third-degree criminal sexual conduct. She was more than four years older than her male victim and in a position of authority.

According to the charges, which were filed in July 2017:

A police school resource officer learned of inappropriate texting between the teen and Funk. In reviewing the messages, officers found conversations that suggested she and the student had engaged in sex three times in February 2017. She resigned from her job the next month.

Officers also discovered that Funk sent several partly nude photos of herself to the student. During a police interview, Funk denied having sex with the student and explained that any texting that was sexual in nature was a "fantasy." After being shown the photos on the teen's phone, she acknowledged sending them to him.

The student admitted having sex at Funk's home, the high school and in the student's car parked outside his home. However, Funk's guilty plea did not include her admitting to having sex with the teen at the school, her attorney said Tuesday.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482