District Judge Trippy McGuire told Amy Caudle that her crime was “of much notoriety” and was a “shock to the community.”

Caudle, who was a special ed teacher at the time she was charged with the crime, pleaded guilty to two counts of sodomy yesterday.

The judge quoted the late Art Linkletter, saying “to reach out and touch a child for the right reason is to touch the future.”

“As a teacher, you were entrusted with the future of children, in one of the most honored professions,” McGuire said. “But you reached out and touched children for the wrong reason.

“You used your position of trust to sexually abuse these young men,” McGuire said, adding that she had affected not only the futures of the teens involved, but also her future, her family’s future, and the future of her child.

“What is your child going through?” Mc-Guire quizzed. “What are these young men going through?”

He said there are too many advertisers, musical artists and sexual predators who see children not as human beings, but as targets to be exploited. He called their actions a war against children and said their actions are “disgusting and depr-aved.”

“You became a part of it,” he told Caudle. “I hope while in confinement you can resolve in your heart to never be a part of this war against children again.”