Ex US beauty queen now teacher jailed for sending nude photos to underage boy

Former Miss Kentucky Ramsey BethAnn Bearse, 29, has been sentence to two years in prison after sending explicit photos to a 15-year-old student while she was working as a teacher. Photo / AP

A former Miss Kentucky and teacher has been jailed after admitting to exchanging sexual photos with an underage teenage student while working at a West Virginia school.

Ramsey BethAnn Bearse, 29, received her two-year sentence in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

She pleaded guilty to one count of possessing material depicting minors in sexually explicit conduct in December 2019.

She admitted exchanging photos with the student on snapchat between August and October 2018, when the teen was just 15.

The photos were of her "nude breast/chest area," the West Virginia Metro News reported at the time.

A parent of the 15-year-old reported finding the images on his phone.

Bearse was also sentenced to an additional 10 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender for life.

Bearse lost her job as a year 8 science teacher as a result of the case.

Bearse previously testified she meant to send a photo to her husband, but accidentally sent it to the teen. She claimed the student asked for additional photos, so she continued to send them because she was "afraid to not appease him".

Ramsey BethAnn Bearse was crowned Miss Kentucky in 2014. Photo / Getty Images

Bearse said on Tuesday she accepted "full responsibility" for her actions.

"Since I am the adult, and he was just a teenager, it is my fault, and I accept full blame for the situation," Bearse said in December last year.

"So that's how I'm guilty of this crime. I messed up big-time."

Under her maiden name of Carpenter, Bearse was crowned Miss Kentucky in 2014 in the Miss America pageant.