A 29-year-old English teacher at Lakeland's Central Florida Aerospace Academy has been arrested on charges she repeatedly had sex with a 17-year-old student.

Lakeland police arrested Jennifer Christine Fichter at her home late Monday and booked her in the Polk County Jail on six counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Detectives said Fichter communicated with the boy by text, using the name of a female student and another alias, and met him in the early morning hours for sex in the parking lot of the Reserve Apartments, 4920 State Road 33 in Lakeland. The sexual encounters occurred in the back seat of Fichter's Toyota pickup truck.

The boy's mother became suspicious after discovering her son missing one morning at 5 a.m. She began monitoring his text messages, discovered the relationship and asked Fichter to come to her home to talk.

Fichter complied, admitted to the sexual encounters and professed her love for the boy, police said.

According to the arrest report, the boy admitted that beginning last November, he and Fichter met for sex three times at the Reserve Apartments, three times at another city location and four times outside of Lakeland. Those incidents are under investigation by other agencies in Polk and Hillsborough counties, police said.

Detectives said they recorded a phone call between the boy's mother and Fichter. They said Fichter admitted to having sex with the boy 20 to 30 times and to getting pregnant and having an abortion.

Fichter said in the recorded conversation that she wanted to have a relationship with the boy and didn't regret any of her actions.

Parents at the school are disgusted.

"You think your children are safe at school, but maybe they aren't always,” said Debbi Carter, a parent.

We talked with parents who have kids in Fichter's class. Some say she was professional, a good teacher. One parent said she witnessed strange behavior for a teacher.

"More flirty than you would think she should be,” said the parent, who wished to remain anonymous.

"Scary, you know when your children are in an institution like this, and they can't ever investigate someone one hundred percent,” said Carter.

Neighbors are voicing their concerns and on Tuesday night said they are shocked by the allegations.

"They're supposed to be looking out for your children,” said neighbor Tina Diaz. “They're supposed to be keeping them safe."
 
"You can mold children and this is what she's doing,” added Nina Diaz. “She's taking advantage of his innocence."

The twin sisters said the teacher crossed a line that should never be crossed and now they feel she must pay the price.

"I don't care if he's 17 and he'll be 18 tomorrow,” said Nina Diaz. "He's still a child and she's the adult."