Dozens of new charges have been filed in the months since Brittany Fortinberry was first arrested for allegedly having sex with middle school boys.
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — Morgan County prosecutors have filed additional charges against the ex-substitute teacher who allegedly had group sex with teenage boys as young as 13 years old.
Brittany Fortinberry, of Martinsville, was charged with additional counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, dissemination of material harmful to minors and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
That brings the total number of charges filed against Fortinberry up to 47, including 14 counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Editors Note: The alleged victims in this story are too young to consent to sex. 13News is not using the terms “rape” or “sexual assault” because those are specific crimes, and the suspect is not charged with those at the time of publication.
New victim comes forward
The new charges come after another teen boy came forward to his parents and police about Fortinberry’s alleged misconduct.
According to new court documents, the boy said at first, Fortinberry would just have him over to do drugs and hang out. He told police she would compliment him on his appearance and his strength while doing chores.
According to the boy, Fortinberry started touching him more, and then one night, they started having sex in her garage. Afterwards, he said Fortinberry went to bed with her husband, and he slept in their kids’ room.
The boy told police Fortinberry would give him and other boys drugs and try to buy them gifts. He said he stopped coming over when he realized Fortinberry was having sex with a lot of other teenage boys.
Alleged group sex with middle school boys
After Fortinberry’s initial arrest, the Department of Child Services (DCS) reached out to parents of other potential victims, leading to dozens more charges being filed.
Brittany did not say anything as deputies led her into the Morgan County Courthouse for her initial hearing on April 3.
“I realize that this case has received a great deal of publicity, but the focus is and will remain on the victims and the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” said Michelle Armstrong, Morgan County deputy prosecutor.
According to court documents, one of the victims, a middle school boy, accused Brittany of drugging him repeatedly and having sex with him when he was 13. He said Brittany would have him bring his friends to her house, where she would allegedly give the teens drugs and then have sex with them.
One of the victims told police that Brittany would put her children to bed and then try to have sex with the boys.
In another incident, a victim said that Brittany reached out to him after she had been arrested in a separate misconduct investigation. She allegedly spent $600 on a group of teens for various purchases and then had sex with all of them, while making them wear the mask from the movie “Scream.” Brittany allegedly told the teens if they reported anything, she would kill herself.
Brittany allegedly had sex with one teen she had asked to babysit her children, also exchanging sexual favors to get things for other teens.
Another student said Brittany was paying teen boys between $100 and $800 for photos of their genitals.
One boy told police that if the boys said they didn’t want to have sex with Brittany, she would make them, while saying, “just let it happen.”
In a completely separate case, Brittany faces charges for allegedly sending sexual messages and videos to 17 and 18 year old boys who served as her teacher assistants at Eminence Schools at the start of this school year.
All of the teens said Brittany would send them nude and explicit photos and videos on Snapchat and an app called “Session.”
The parents of many victims did not know anything was wrong until they were contacted by DCS.
“It’s not uncommon at all to see allegations of sexual abuse involving people in authority positions,” said Kristina Korobov, senior attorney for the Zero Abuse Project. “There is nothing sexual about what happens to these kids. It is a violation and it’s an exploitation.”
Korobov said while exploitation cases are not uncommon, it is rare for cases with male victims to be reported.
“The more we continue to send that message that this isn’t some consensual act that got out of hand but to treat it with the respect these allegations deserve, I think the more you see kids and their parents feeling comfortable to come forward and talk about what happened,” Korobov said.
Seeking a mental illness defense
On May 7, her lawyers filed a notice of mental illness or defect. They are asking the court to appoint two to three psychologists or psychiatrists to assess Fortinberry’s mental competence.
According to the filing:
“Counsel has a good faith belief that the defendant likely suffers from a mental disease or defect, but lacks the expertise to proffer whether the defendant appreciated the wrongfulness of her conduct at the time of the offense. Such an opinion must come from qualified experts pursuant to statute.”