A former Warren County Public Schools employee who was fired after her arrest on suspicion of illegal contact with a student pleaded guilty to two criminal counts on Tuesday.

Rachael Smith, 42, of Bowling Green, entered an Alford plea in Warren Circuit Court to a felony count of tampering with physical evidence and a misdemeanor count of second-degree sexual abuse.

In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit wrongdoing, but does acknowledge the prosecution has enough evidence to secure a conviction on the charges to which the defendant pleads.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Smith would have to be in compliance with the sex offender registry for 20 years, and she will be placed on supervised pretrial diversion for three years on the tampering charge.

The sexual abuse count will be conditionally discharged after two years if Smith commits no new offenses.

A grand jury indicted Smith last year on two counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, two counts of procure/promote the use of a minor by electronic means for sexual or other prohibited activities and one count each of first-degree sexual abuse and tampering with physical evidence.

The plea agreement amended the felony first-degree sexual abuse count down to a misdemeanor second-degree sexual abuse charge, while dismissing four of the other charges.

Had she been convicted as originally charged, Smith faced up to 20 years in prison.

The Bowling Green Police Department investigated Smith in 2022 when a parent of a juvenile contacted city police and reported that Smith had been sending her son inappropriate messages, an arrest citation said.

Through the investigation, police learned Smith had contacted another 14-year-old electronically and invited him to her house, the citation said.

The juvenile reported that when he arrived, Smith pulled him against her and kissed him.

Police contacted Smith on June 17, 2022, and during an interview she admitted kissing the juvenile at her residence, according to her arrest citation.

In court on Tuesday, Smith’s attorney, Blake Beliles, acknowledged the contact she had with the juvenile at her residence and said that Smith also corresponded with the juvenile over Snapchat.

“During the investigation, the police found out (Smith) had deleted her Snapchat and because of that she was concerned she would be convicted of the tampering charge and she was afraid she would be convicted of the first-degree sexual abuse charge as well,” Beliles said.

Warren Circuit Judge John Grise imposed the sentence and directed Smith to have no contact with the juveniles who were identified through the investigation as victims.