A former Seattle-based teacher who previously served seven years in jail for raping one of her 12-year-old students was briefly imprisoned on Monday for missing a court appearance related to driving without a license, police authorities confirmed.

Mary Kay Letourneau spent a day in King County Jail on Jan. 6, with the former teacher checked in early Monday morning and released just a few hours later at 1:05 p.m. shortly after she posted US$5,000 bail.

According to officials, Letourneau's court appearance was rescheduled for Tuesday.

Letourneau became infamous in 1997 when news broke out that she was having sexual relations with one of her students, Vili Fualaau.

The affair between then 34-year-old Letourneau and 12-year-old Fualaau caused a media frenzy coverage that churned out books and even a television film.

The former sixth-grade teacher was given a seven-year sentence in jail around late 1997 and was imprisoned while she was pregnant with her student's child. Letourneau was allowed probation in January 1998 but was barred from contact with Fualaau.

Just a few weeks after she was released, Mary Kay Letourneau was caught with Fualaau in her car at around 3 a.m. The former teacher was once more arrested and sent back to serve the remaining years of her term in jail, where she bore the then 13-year-old's second child, evidence that the pair had resumed their sexual affair.

The former teacher was released from jail six years later in 2004. Mary Kay Letourneau married her former student Fualaau in 2005.