Colorado teen, then 17, tried to protect his teacher's job and marriage

A Colorado teenager whose alleged romance with a female teacher sparked a scandal that rocked a charter school said Tuesday that he initially tried to protect the woman's job and her marriage to the school's principal. "I didn't want her to end up losing her job. I figured I had a lot less to lose than she did," Tommy Clay, who was 17 at the time, told TODAY anchor Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview. Carrie McCandless, 29 at the time, did end up losing her job as a social-studies teacher and now faces two felony criminal charges over allegations she had improper sexual contact with Tommy and supplied him with alcohol during an overnight school trip in October she chaperoned.

source: Article 'Student in sex scandal wanted to 'take the fall' - Colorado teen, then 17, tried to protect his teacher's job and marriage'; today.msnbc.msn.com/id/17591403; TODAY; 13 March 2007