Zacks Future News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

There we go. >> this is zack. he's cute, friendly, athletic, and a member of his high school varsity cheerleading squad. but he's also facing life as a convicted felon for something teenagers across the country are probably doing right now. how much prison or jail time is he facing? >> up to 40 years in prison and lifetime registry on the sex offender list. it's scary. it's maddening. it's outrageous. they had him wearing shackles when they brought him in. >> how did it feel to see your son like that? >> i just could not believe that i was the mother of a registered sex offender. >> more than ...

As far as you've been able to tell? >> right now he's suffering inside. he won't tell me, but i know he is. i've gotten calls from the school. he'll break down. he'll want to come home from school. he doesn't want to go to school. i want to tell zack that everything's going to be fine, you know, that you're going to be able to go into the military. you're going to be able to go into school. you're going to be able to fulfill all your dreams. you know, you're going to have a family someday. but i have absolutely no clue what's going to happen. and that's the hardest part. >> if zack is found gu...

Another town. >> if zachary has to move, i'm going to go with him. i don't know where we'd go. i don't want that to happen, but he's my son. >> how do you think he'll take it if he's convicted? >> honestly, i'm afraid he'll do something to harm himself. i don't think he'll be able to handle it. his best way out, in his eyes, i think would be he'd -- he doesn't want to live then. i'm not saying zack should be, you know, totally off the hook for this at all. put him on probation. you know, if a year is too short, make it two years. make it five years. but zachary's not a felon. he does not deser...

>> how much prison or jail time is he facing, potentially? >> it could be up to 40 years in prison and lifetime registry on the sex offender list. never in my wildest dreams did i think this would ever happen to one of my kids. >> for much of zack's life, carrie raised him as a single mom. as a kid, zack struggled with bullying and depression. but things started looking up two years ago when he changed schools, joined the cheer team, and started dating. did you know that zack was sexually active? >> he's had a couple relationships. he's a popular kid. i had my hunches, but i didn't know for su...

>> is it fair to say you had a crush on him? >> maybe. plus he was popular. i wanted to get into that group. >> was there any talk what you were going to do while you were spending time together? >> he wanted to have sexual intercourse, and i said i didn't know if i wanted that because something bad could happen or somebody could find out. >> did you want to have sex? >> i told him i did, but i really didn't. >> who brought up sex? >> he did. he kept talking about it, telling me it's going to be fine. i kept saying i don't know. then we walked upstairs to my aunt's, and he picked me up and car...