LOCK HAVEN — A former Keystone Central School District food services worker received a state prison term on her birthday for sending sexually explicit messages and photographs to two male middle school students in 2023.

Dana Ann Kitchen, 37, of Lock Haven, was sentenced Tuesday by Clinton County Judge Craig Miller to 27 months to 6 years followed by two years probation. She must register as a sex offender for 25 years.

The sentencing for co-defendant Brittany Kay Koch, 30, of Beech Creek, a former teacher’s aide, was continued because she is scheduled to give birth in mid-May.

The two had pleaded guilty in November to charges of corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor admitting they sent messages, videos and photographs via Snapchat. Kitchen’s charges list two victims.

She tried to deflect some of the blame onto a student but Assistant District Attorney Edward J. Ferguson pointed out she was the adult, she asked him for pictures and expressed a desire to get together with him.

Kitchen, the mother of two, addressed the judge before being sentenced but her comments were not audible to the courtroom audience because her microphone was turned off.

The family of one of the victims provided PennLive a copy of the letter they sent to the judge in which they called Kitchen and Koch “villainous adults” and stated it has been a “very emotional, stressful and financial struggle” for them.

These are other excerpts:

— “This is something that nobody should ever be handed. It could have simply been stopped and avoided if these two adults were truly adults and knew right from wrong …”

— “Our son was made to grow up way sooner than he should have from all of this. There is no reason he needed to see what all he has witnessed.”

— “This has put him through the ringer as we go from many sleepless nights of him waking up crying wondering what is going to happen to struggles in the morning because he was nervous about going to school for fear of what people would say to him.”

— “People were very rude at school. The school cafeteria workers treated him differently once this all came out. When they saw he was next in line they would turn their backs or walk away and not serve my son his lunch. He did not deserve any of this.”

— “Since that occurred he has gone from being outgoing to not wanting to be around people.”

The youth is quoted in the letter as saying he wanted Kitchen and Koch to receive more than the minimum sentence.

The family added, “We do not want to see them walk away with probation or house arrest. We want a sentence with jail time.”

The charges against Kitchen and Koch were the result of a Mill Hall police investigation launched following a ChildLine report.

One of the victims, when interviewed at a child advocacy center, described in detail the contents of the pictures he received from Kitchen, they said.

That youth told investigators he was “weirded” out because she asked him to send her videos of him masturbating.