FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Former Brighton Charter High School teacher Carrie McCandless was sentenced to 45 days in jail Friday for providing alcohol to, and having unlawful sexual contact with a 17-year old student.

As part of her plea agreement, she also has to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutors said McCandless was "grooming" her victim, and that she never owned up to what she did.

"There was downplaying, almost like it was a mistake and it was his fault," said prosecutor Michael Pierson.

McCandless was accused of fondling the student during a field trip to a YMCA camp near Estes Park.

Her attorney said it was the other way around, that she was sleeping and the student, three months shy of his 18th birthday, came up behind and fondled her.

"Anyone who doesn't think that a kid that age is capable of doing what I explained to the judge is crazy," said defense attorney M. Trent Trani. "He's more than capable of it."

Prosecutors said a fellow student witnessed McCandless and the victim making out on the floor. But Trani said investigators never followed up with that witness. He said she didn't have her glasses on and she was sick that night.

Trani added, "She didn't know if one person was awake, or if one person was asleep."

District Court Judge James Hiatt said McCandless was over the line. "This was a serious criminal offense, Hiatt said. "The responsibility falls on Mrs. McCandless. She was the teacher. She was the adult. She was the one who was supposed to set the boundries."

Pierson said the sentence will send a message to all teachers that they have a responsibility to be loyal to their schools and to set boundries with students.

"If they're going to fall short of that, then they can expect to see us in court, and (they can expect) not to be teachers."

McCandless was fired from her job at Brighton Charter High School shortly after the allegations surfaced. Her husband Chris is still principal at that school.

Both declined comment following today's sentencing hearing.

The student, Tommy Clay, appeared on national television in March and said that he and McCandless became close because he found it easy to talk to her.

"And then I guess when we got into it a little bit more, it got a little bit more intimate," Clay said.

Clay also told police that he and McCandless professed their love to each other. He said they once sent 76 text messages to each other in one day. McCandless was 29 at the time.

The president of the charter school's board, David Mundy, faces charges of failing to report child-abuse allegations and tampering with a witness in connection with the case.