The Center for Sex Offender Management reports that less than 10 percent of sex offenders are female, and while the law makes no gender distinction, experts report that the dynamics of female sex offenders are very different than male offenders.

    Last September, 31-year-old Kimberly Rosean Speck, of Malad, was arrested for allegedly having sexual contact with minors.

    Speck is charged with sexual battery and solicitation to commit a crime, both felonies, and three counts of disseminating material harmful to minors.

    A pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for Feb. 20.

    In a September press release, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office said the charges were the result of an investigation into a complaint alleging that Speck had inappropriate sexual contact with a male high school student and allegations that pornographic photos had been sent to other high school males.

    Linda Hatzenbuehler, a professor of psychology at Idaho State University and a certified sex offender evaluator, said female sex offenders exhibit more mental health issues than their male counterparts.

    Female offenders often are diagnosed with depression or anxiety and most have some history of prior trauma.

    While prior victimization is not considered a direct cause, Hatzenbuehler said children, both male and female, are more affected when sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone they know and trust.

    “Even if it only happens once, the damage is greatest when that trust is broken as well,” Hatzenbuehler said.

    Hatzenbuehler said while some male offenders develop a deviant sexual attraction to underage victims, in most cases female offenders are looking to fulfill an emotional need.

    However, she said there is a small sub-group of female offenders who do have deviant sexual motives.

    An Oklahoma grandmother, Sally Deupree, was convicted of possession and manufacturing of child pornography. Deupree was charged with providing her boyfriend a nude photo of a 2-year-old girl and asking him to make a sex video for her.

    A video was not recovered, but several photographs were found.

    Female sex offenders fall into three categories, Hatzenbuehler said: male-coerced, teacher and lover, and a very small percentage of predatory female offenders.

    Male-coerced offenses occur when a male partner suggests or is interested in bringing in an underaged victim for sex.

     The teacher and lover scenario typically involves an older, often married woman, who becomes attracted to an adolescent male and her dependency needs cause her to cross the line.

    “The relationship fulfills an emotional, not a sexual need,” Hatzenbuehler said.

    Last month, Marie Ellen Donaldson, the wife of North Gem School District Superintendent Curry Donaldson, was arraigned in front of Superior Court Judge James Canlogue in Arizona on eight counts of intentionally or knowingly engaging “in oral sexual contact with a person under 18 years of age,” all “class 2” felonies.

    A pre-trial hearing in the case was scheduled for April 27 in Cochise County, Ariz.

    A 27-page report issued by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office alleges that Marie Ellen “conducted a romantic relationship involving sexual conduct” with a 16-year-old boy who was a student at San Simon High School.

    The alleged incidents took place between December 2013 and May 2014 and according to the report, they were “incidents of consensual contact were oral, not intercourse.”

    The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office launched its investigation May 15 of last year and Marie Ellen’s teaching contract ended at San Simon High in May.

    Child Abuse Effect reports that sexual abuse by women often goes unreported because victims don’t understand what happened to them until years later, when they are adults, and adolescent males often have the perception that sex with an older female is a “rite of passage.”

     But victimization by female offenders can have the same devastating effect as victimization by male sex offenders including, self-blame, low self-esteem, sexual dysfunction and substance abuse.

    The profile for female sex offenders is broad. The causes include the absence of a parent during childhood, sexual victimization of the woman as a girl, loss of a spouse, feelings of isolation and alienation and a history of indiscriminate or compulsive sexual activity, and  drug or alcohol abuse.

    Bannock County Prosecutor Steve Herzog said laws designed to protect underage children provide no gender distinction.

    “The law says, someone did something harmful to a child,” Herzog said. “It’s my job to protect the child and other children.”

    Herzog said all sex offenders submit to a psychosexual evaluation and a polygraph exam to determine their risk of re-offending and, he said, women are typically more amenable to treatment.