Imprisoned Ariz. Teacher Who Sexually Abused Boy, 13, Is Now Tutoring Inmates in Prison

Brittany Zamora, a former teacher at Las Brisas Academy in Goodyear, was arrested in 2018

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Brittany Zamora is serving a 20-year sentence in an Arizona prison for sexually abusing her 13-year-old student — and she has spent some of her time behind bars tutoring other prisoners, PEOPLE has learned.

According to the Arizona Department of Corrections website, Zamora, 30, got her tutor certification in September. Now, she is authorized to help teach academic subjects to other inmates.

Zamora, a former teacher at Las Brisas Academy in Goodyear, was arrested in 2018, when the stepmother of a 13-year-old boy noticed that he was acting suspiciously and wanting to shut his door at night. She installed a parental monitoring app called "Sentry" on his phone and subsequently began getting alerts about inappropriate texts, so she confronted the boy. He told his stepmother that he had sexual contact with his sixth-grade teacher.

In court documents first obtained by the Arizona Republic, authorities said that Zamora groomed the boy for sex through special attention, explicit texts and naked photos of herself.

According to a police report, Zamora and the boy began texting and sending each other photos on Snapchat.

At the time of her arrest, the Maricopa County Police released screenshots of texts sent between Zamora and the teen.

During one exchange, Zamora wrote, "I want you too baby so bad…I want you every day with no time limit."

As the illegal relationship proceeded, Zamora sexually abused the boy several times.

Police say Zamora played an educational video during one of her classes. While other students watched the video, Zamora sexually abused the victim in the back of the classroom.

On another day, the victim and a friend stayed after school. The two boys later told police that Zamora asked the victim's friend to be a lookout while they had sex.

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Goodyear Police Department

As things began to close in on Zamora, she and her husband reached out to the boy's family to try to prevent her from getting into trouble.

According to a police report, the student's father claimed he received a phone call from Zamora and her husband "pleading with him not to contact the police." He refused and hung up the phone.

In 2019, Zamora entered a guilty plea for sexually abusing the boy. During her sentencing, she apologized for her actions and asked the victim and his family for their forgiveness. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

According to records first obtained by Law & Crime, Zamora had previously worked on kitchen detail in the prison.

In a statement, the Department of Corrections says Zamora had no disciplinary issues and "assisted the education staff in teaching the inmate students, in a group setting."

"She was directly supervised while working at all times by educational instructors, and the classrooms are routinely checked and monitored by Security staff, COII's and/or supervisors (Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, COIV's)," the statement continues.

Zamora will remain in prison until her release date of March 16, 2038.