Jail for former Jazz performer in underage sex case

Jail for former Jazz performer in underage sex case

(Salt Lake County Jail)


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TAYLORSVILLE — A former dance teacher and Utah Jazz dancer has been sentenced to jail for having sex with a 17-year-old student at the studio she owned.

Amber Telford, 33, was sentenced Thursday to 30 days in jail for a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy who danced at the studio she owned at the time. She will then be required to perform 150 hours of community service, complete probation and register as a sex offender, according to court documents.

Telford pleaded guilty in July to a single count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a third-degree felony. In exchange for her plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss six identical charges that had been filed against her.

Telford, a former owner of Colette's Dancing School in Taylorsville, was arrested and charged in January. Police said she had sex with the teenage boy from September to December 2014.

"She started by flirting with (the teen) and eventually began a sexual relationship with him that occurred at her home, her mother's home and also in a vehicle belonging to Amber," according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.

Telford allegedly groomed the boy for the relationship by buying him clothes and other items and paying for a trip to Disneyland for a dance competition, according to police.

The activity was discovered on Nov. 28 after Telford's estranged husband hired a private detective who allegedly caught the two in her studio. Court records show Telford filed for divorce from her husband in September, about the same time the illegal activity with the teen started.

Colette's Dancing School is no longer in operation. The business is now run by different management under a new name.

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McKenzie Romero

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