A woman who posed as a homeless orphaned boy and befriended and abused a teenage girl was sentenced to a year in jail for child molestation.
Lorelei J. Corpuz, 30, apologized Thursday. She said, “I know this is a big lesson for me, and it is not something I want to do again.”
The sentence ordered by Judge Ronald C. Castleberry was the maximum under state guidelines.
Two counts of third-degree child rape were dropped last month before Corpuz pleaded guilty to the lesser charge, sparing the girl the ordeal of a trial.
Authorities said Corpuz, who cropped her hair and stands 5-foot-3, passed herself off as 17-year-old Mark Villanueva after meeting the girl at a mall in September 2005. Her parents, immigrants who speak little English, let Corpuz live at their home.
Over time Corpuz began physically and sexually abusing the girl, authorities said. Although Corpuz had sexual contact with the girl, Corpuz never let the girl see her genitals, police said.
The girl did not speak in court Thursday but wrote a letter to the judge to express her anger at Corpuz and the way she and her family had been treated.