Thephenomenon of teachers accused or convicted of having sex with theirstudents has come to the forefront of national and international newsin recent years.
T cases involving women seem to be on the increase, just a few are compiled below:
Adrianne Hockett:Accused of having sex with a 16-year-old special-needs student in aHouston apartment she rented for the get-togethers. The boy hastestified the pair would “have sex, drink beer and smoke weed.”
Amber Jennings, 31:Though Jennings was initially charged with having sex with a16-year-old, the counts against the Sturbridge, Mass., woman werereduced to a single charge of disseminating harmful materials to aminor. She reportedly admitted e-mailing naked photos of herself to aformer student. She received no jail time, only two years of probationafter pleading guilty.
Amber Marshall, 23:Northwest Indiana woman allegedly had sexual contact, includingintercourse, with several students at Hebron High School, and turnedherself into authorities, telling police she knew what she did wasillegal.
Amira Sa’Di, 30:Clayton County, Ga., woman remarked she didn’t think her relationshipwas inappropriate based on her Internet research, learning the PeachState’s age of consent is 16.
Amy Gail Lilley, 36:Inverness, Fla., woman and softball coach at Lecanto High Schoolcharged with a lesbian relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Shereceived no prison time, being sentenced to two years of house arrestand eight more years of probation.
Amy McElhenny |
Amy McElhenney, 25:Charged with having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old malestudent, the 25-year-old Hebron High School Spanish teacher and formerMiss Texas contestant will not be serving any jail time after a DentonCounty, Texas, grand jury refused to issue an indictment. While the ageof consent in Texas is 17 years, a state law bans sexual relationshipsbetween educators and students even if the student is of legal age andthe relationship is consensual. She could have faced 20 years in prisonif indicted and convicted.
Angela Comer |
Angela Comer, 26:Middle-school teacher from Tompkinsville, Ky., fled with her allegedlover, her 14-year-old male student, before being tracked down inMexico where she reportedly planned to marry the boy. She was indictedfor illegal sex acts with a minor and returned to Kentucky. Chargesinclude felony custodial interference, two counts of third-degreesodomy and four counts of unlawful transaction with a minor relating tosexual acts.
Angela Stellwag, 24:Delran, N.J., woman accused of having sex in her apartment with a14-year-old boy she met in school. She was charged with sexual assaultfor activity that allegedly took place in August 2004. She pleaded notguilty in August 2006.
Beth Raymond, 31:Private-school employee from Pownal, Maine, charged with risk of injuryto a minor and second-degree sexual assault of a juvenile male at EagleHill School in Greenwich, Conn. In July 2006, she was sentenced to 18months prison.
Bethany Sherrill, 24:Daughter-in-law of school-board president charged with molesting a15-year-old middle-school student. Reports state Sherill allegedly hadoral sex with the boy and sent him coded text messages. She resignedher position at Jefferson Elementary School in Farmington, Mo., andeventually received 90 days in jail and two years probation, and wasforced to register as a sex offender.
Brandy Lynn Gonzales |
Brandy Lynn Gonzales, 27:TheHouston-area teacher and her husband were arrested in December 2006 forsexually assaulting students at an elementary school two years earlier.Prosecutors allege that Gonzales met a student at a local movietheater, where she performed oral sex on the boy as well as anotherstudent at the theater. Husband Johnny Gonzales is also charged withhaving performed sex acts with one teen. Prosecutors told the judgethey have sufficient evidence to file further charges.
Cameo Patch |
Cameo Patch, 29:Substitute teacher at Tooele High School in Tooele, Utah, arrested forallegedly performing oral sex on a 17-year-old male student. The sexualactivity was allegedly consensual, and reportedly took place off schoolgrounds after the pair had exchanged phone numbers in a restaurant. Shewas sentenced to no jail time, despite despite comments from the judgethat a man would have likely gone to prison.
Carol Flannigan |
Carol Flannigan, 50:Boca Raton, Fla., music teacher reportedly slept with 11-year-oldformer student, and also had a simultaneous sexual relationship withthe boy’s father. In a deposition, the boy’s father said he had thesame sort of sexual relationship with Flannigan that ex-President BillClinton had with Monica Lewinsky. In February 2006, Flannigan wassentenced to five years prison as part of a plea deal.
Carrie McCandless |
Carrie McCandless, 29:The former Colorado social-studies teacher, who also happens to bemarried to the principal, was charged in November 2006 with having hadsexual contact with a 17-year-old male student during an overnightschool camping trip. The instructor, who also coaches cheerleading,could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison for sexual assault on achild by a person in a position of trust and contributing to thedelinquency of a minor.
Cathy Heminghaus |
Cathy Heminghaus, 46:Special-education teacher from Ferguson, Mo., charged with statutorysodomy involving at least three of her students at Ferguson MiddleSchool. She reportedly told friends she had performed oral sex on thechildren on several occasions.
Celeste Emerick, 32:Police in Huber Heights, Ohio, say the Wayne High School teacher hosteda party where students were shown pornography. Prosecutors charged herwith one count of sexual battery, a felony in Ohio.
Christina Gallagher, 26:Jersey City, N.J., woman received no jail time, but was ordered to paymore than $1,000 in fines, sentenced to a lifetime registration as aconvicted sex offender and ordered to attend therapy for having sexwith a 17-year-old student in late 2004. The former Rahway High Schoolinstructor was banned from teaching and seeing the student with whomshe had sex.
Christine Duda, 39:Teacher at the Normandy Alternative School in St. Louis County, Mo.,allegedly took a 16-year-old hearing-impaired male student to her homefor sex in December 2005. She was charged with two counts of felonystatutory rape and fired by the school district.
Christine Scarlett, 36:English teacher at Strongsville High School in Ohio began a sexualrelationship with the 17-year-old captain of the football team, StevenBradigan, in November 2002 and eventually gave birth to Bradigan’s son.Scarlett was fired from her teaching job, but insists nothing improperhappened during the time she was Bradigan’s teacher. She was nevercharged with any criminal wrongdoing.
Darcie Esson |
Darcie Esson, 32:Parker, Colo., English teacher at Elizabeth High School was arrested inDecember 2006 for having sex with a 17-year-old football player the dayafter her divorce was finalized. According to the arrest affidavit,Esson and the teen allegedly had sex on the floor of her hotel roomwhile her two children, ages 4 and 8, and their 17-year-old babysitterslept on beds in the same room. Esson was charged with sexual assaulton a child by a person in a position of trust, a Class IV felony.
Deanna Bobo |
Deanna Bobo, 37:Special-education teacher at Raymond E. Wells Junior High School inGreenwood, Ark., allegedly had sex twice in 2005 with a 14-year-old boyin his own bed while his parents were not home. She denied the charge,but was convicted in September 2006 of two counts of first-degreesexual assault and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Debra LaFave |
Debra LaFave, 25:Tampa, Fla., area teacher received no jail time despite having sex withher 14-year-old male student in a classroom and her Hillsborough Countyhome. In another county, Marion, she was accused of having sex with theboy in an SUV. LaFave claimed at a March 2006 news conference she had abipolar disorder. The boy’s father said LaFave should have receivedprison time in her plea deal, noting, “It’s a horrible, ugly thing thatshe’s done.”
Diane DeMartini-Scully, 45:Mattituck, N.Y., woman was the school psychologist at East HamptonMiddle School on Long Island when she was accused of having sex withthe 16-year-old boyfriend of her own 13-year-old daughter. Sheallegedly had intercourse and oral sex with the boy on a number ofoccasions in May 2005 in her home and car. She was arrested afterallegedly secretly visiting her young paramour at his new home in NorthCarolina.
Donna Carr Galloway, 33: Married mother of two found naked in a car with a 17-year-old student.
Elisa Kawasaki, 25:Biology teacher from Fresno, Calif., area, pleaded no contest to sexwith a teen boy, and prosecutors dropped four other counts.
Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36:Grand Rapids, Mich., teacher at South Haven’s Baseline Middle Schoolpleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female studentshe “married” in a pagan ritual in June 2004. Miklosovic is alsoaccused of touching the girl’s genitals while camping in public parks.She told the judge before sentencing, “The entire ordeal has been blowntotally out of proportion for something that was innocent, kind andnurturing in nature.” She was sentenced to five to 25 years.
Elizabeth Stow, 26:Tulare Western High School teacher from Fresno, Calif., area convictedof having sex with three of her students was sentenced to nine years,but the judge suspended that sentence and gave her one year, followedby five years of probation. She was also ordered to register as a sexoffender.
Ellen Garfield, 43:Former student at Solomon Schecter School in Newton, Mass., said hismusic teacher took him into an empty classroom where she worked,partially disrobed, and coaxed him into having sex with her in 1998.Garfield was acquitted of all charges in September 2005.
Emily Morris, 28:Teacher at Leeds High School in St. Clair County, Ala., faced apossible 20-year sentence, but received one year in jail for havingconsensual sex with a 15-year-old student.
Erica Rutters, 29:Teacher at Oxford Christian Academy in New Oxford, Pa., allegedly wroteerotic messages to a 16-year-old student and had sexual intercoursewith him four times in her apartment. She pleaded guilty to corruptionof a minor, and received no jail time, just three years of probation inMarch 2006.
Franca and Antonia Munoz-Juvera |
Franca and Antonia Munoz-Juvera, 26:These twin sisters – both teachers – were arrested in SouthernCalifornia in December 2006 in connection with alleged lewd acts withan underage female student. Only Franca was charged with “unlawfulcontact” – Antonia was charged with being aware of the incident andfailing to report it as required under California law. An 18-year-oldfemale roommate was also arrested because she “facilitated the crime.”
Georgianne Harrell, 24:Teacher at Holley Elementary School in Sylvester, Ga., charged withperforming oral sex on a 9-year-old boy in April 2005, allowingstudents to gaze down her blouse and slashing her wrists with glass infront of her students. Though she originally pleaded not guilty, shechanged her plea to guilty just before trial, and was sentenced to 25years in prison for aggravated child molestation.
Gwen Cardozo, 33:Teacher at Wasson High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., accused ofhaving sex with a 17-year-old male student. Police charged her withsexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, and Cardozoresigned her position in March 2005. She pleaded guilty in July 2005and received a deferred sentence, meaning no jail time if she remainstrouble-free for four years.
Heather Ingram, 30:Mathematics, science and business teacher at Chatelech Secondary Schoolin Sechelt, British Columbia, had sex with a 17-year-old student. Therelationship cost Ingram her job and reportedly led to the breakup ofher 12-year common-law marriage to a man four years her senior.
Jacquelyn Faith Garrison, 19:Substitute teacher at South Central High School in Winterville, N.C.,was indicted in January 2006 on charges she was having an improperrelationship with a 15-year-old student. The case involves some 50phone calls and text messages exchanged between Garrison and the boy,who reportedly became uncomfortable when things of a sexual nature cameup.
Janelle Bird |
Janelle Marie Bird, 24:Accused of having a two-year affair with a 15-year-old student fromEast Hill Christian School, in Pensacola, Fla. Declaring her love forthe boy, she was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious batteryand two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Though Birdcould have received 30 years upon conviction, she was sentenced in 2006to two years in state prison.
Jaymee Wallace |
Jaymee Wallace, 28:Basketball coach in Tampa, Fla., charged with having an 18-monthlesbian relationship with a student. Authorities say the student, whowas 15 when she met Wallace, voluntarily had sex with the coach morethan 50 times, in a parking lot at Busch Gardens and often at Wallace’sown apartment while a fellow classmate was in an adjacent room.According to the police report, the sexual relationship reportedlybegan in early 2003, after the student received a note from Wallacesaying she “found her attractive and wanted to know if she felt thesame way.”
Joan Marie Sladky, 28:Redwood City, Calif., woman sentenced to six months in county jail forhaving sex with a 16-year-old student after pleading no contest to fourcounts of unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation and penetrationwith a foreign object. The Spanish teacher’s relationship with the boyspanned six months, as she reportedly had sex with him once at his homeand three times at her residence, which was on the property of theprivate Baptist church and school where she taught.
Katherine Tew, 30:Married English teacher from Greenville, N.C., arrested for having sexwith a 17-year-old boy. She taught at South Central High School inWinterville, N.C., and was convicted of taking indecent liberties witha child, but found not guilty of the more serious sex charge. She wasnot given prison time, and lost her teaching license for at least twoyears.
Kathy White, 39:Teacher at Lumberton High School in Lumberton, Texas, charged withhaving sex with a 17-year-old student. The victim, Michael Ferguson,alleges: “She just started grabbing me and hormones were on and it justhappened.” Ferguson provided KBTV-TV with an e-mail allegedly sent byWhite, in which the teacher told him, “I get these cravings for YOU andthat’s not NORMAL! If I had it my way, I’d do you once a week justbecause it’s good.”
Kelly Lynn Dalecki, 28:Elementary-school teacher from St. Augustine, Fla., pleaded no contestto charges she had sex with a 13-year-old boy in 2003. The boy’sparents reportedly found more than 50 sexually explicit e-mails andpornographic pictures allegedly sent by Dalecki on his computer.Dalecki was sentenced to nearly a year in prison.
Kristen Margrif |
Kristen Margrif, 27:Mayville, Mich., teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old malestudent in her car or at his summer workplace in June and July 2005.She was given a one-year delayed sentence in June 2006 on three felonycounts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student, meaningshe’ll only have to serve probation if she remains trouble-free for ayear.
Kristi Oakes |
Kristi Dance Oakes, 32:Teacher allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old boy who was in her biologyclass the previous year. Oakes resigned from her post at Seymour HighSchool in Sevierville, Tenn., and reportedly lost her home and even thejob she took at a grocery store after resigning from the school systembecause of the charges. In July 2006, she pleaded guilty and wassentenced to six months in jail.
Lakina Stutts, 40: School-bus driver admitted to cops she had sex with a 14-year-old student in her home and in a car outside the boy’s home.
Laura-Anne Brownlee, 26:Former music mistress at a top private school in Belfast, N. Ireland,was given a six-month suspended sentence on charges of indecentlyassaulting a 15-year-old boy.
Laura Lynn Findlay, 30:Band teacher at Ricker Middle School in Buena Vista Township, Mich.,charged with having sex with at least 5 students, one as young as 14.She was sentenced in August 2006 to at least seven and as much as 25years in prison.
Lynn Saunders, 38:A former basketball star at the College of Staten Island, the gymteacher at St. Paul’s School in New Brighton, N.Y., was arrested inMarch 2005 for allegedly molesting a 12-year-old girl whose family shehad befriended. Saunders admitted to touching the girl’s breasts andgenital area on several dates in February 2005. She received no jailtime, only probation and registration as a sex offender. The family isnow suing Saunders and the Archdiocese of New York, claiming the girlbecame suicidal and still suffers from “severe emotional shock, trauma,embarrassment, anxiety and other psychological injuries.”
Margaret De Barraicua |
Margaret De Barraicua, 30:Sacramento, Calif., area woman arrested after police found her havingsex with a 16-year-old male student in her car while the woman’stoddler was strapped into a seat in the back. She pleaded guilty tofour felony counts of statutory rape and was sentenced to a year injail and five years formal probation.
Maria Saco, 28:Math teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Passaic, N.J., sentenced in2005 to a year in jail for an intimate relationship with a teen studentwho was 14 when they first met. Saco reportedly gave the boy a key toher apartment.
Mary Kay Letourneau, 34:Des Moines, Wash., teacher did prison time after having sex with asixth-grade student, Vili Fualaau, in 1996 and eventually had twochildren by him. She originally had Fualaau in her second-grade classat Shorewood Elementary School in Burien, Wash. The couple has sincemarried.
Melissa Michelle Deel, 32:Bristol, Tenn., teacher at Virginia Middle School pleaded guilty tocrossing the state line into Virginia to have oral sex with a13-year-old male student. As part of her plea agreement, Deel agreednever to profit from the crime, as well as have no contact with the boyand his family without court permission. She was sentenced to a yearand two months prison.
Michelle Kush, 29:Substitute teacher at Boone County High School in Florence, Ky.,allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy several times during summerbreak. She was charged with two counts of rape and one sodomy count. InAugust 2006, Kush was sentenced to 60 days in jail, 30 days on housearrest and five years probation.
Nicola Prentice, 22:British woman from Sheffield, England, given a 12-month suspended jailsentence after she seduced a 16-year-old student and began a 19-monthaffair.
Nicole Barnhart |
Nicole Andrea Barnhart, 35:Highlands Ranch, Colo., woman reportedly told police she loves the16-year-old boy with whom she was having sex. A teacher at PonderosaHigh School, she pleaded guilty to felony sexual assault on a child,resulting in a two-year prison sentence and a minimum of 10 years in asex-offender probation program.
Nicole Long |
Nicole Long, 29:English teacher at Ayersville High School in Ohio resigned her teachingpost after being accused of raping a 17-year-old boy. She pleadedguilty in January 2005 to a charge of sexual battery, and was sentencedin March to three months in jail.
Nicole Pomerleau, 31:English teacher at Olympic High School in Charlotte, N.C., arrested inMarch 2004 for allegedly having a sexual relationship with her16-year-old student. The age of consent in North Carolina is 16, butteachers having sex with students is an exception to the law. ThoughPomerleau admitted the affair, she got no prison time and did not haveto register as a sex offender.
Pamela Balogh |
Pamela Balogh, 39:Gym teacher and coach at a Somerset, N.J. Catholic high school wascharged in December 2006 with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old femalestudent over a period of 10 months. Authorities say the assaultshappened mainly in Balogh’s office.
Pamela Smart, 22:Media-services director at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.H.,had convinced her 15-year-old lover to murder her husband. She wasarrested in 1993 and is now serving a life sentence. The Nicole Kidmanfilm “To Die For” is based on her story.
Pamela Rogers Turner, 27:Former model and beauty-pageant contestant also taught at CentertownElementary School in McMinnville, Tenn. She was arrested in February2005 for allegedly having a three-month sexual relationship with a13-year-old boy. She resigned her teaching position and was chargedwith 15 counts of sexual battery and 13 counts of statutory rape.Originally sentenced to 270 days in August 2005, she got in additionaltrouble in April 2006 for sending text messages, nude photos, and sexvideos of herself to the same boy while using her father’s cellphone.In July 2006, she was sentenced to seven years for violating herprobation.
Rachelle Vantucci, 32:Ex-substitute teacher from Geneseo, N.Y., admitted having sex with a16-year-old boy she met at a local riding stable. After pleadingguilty, Vantucci agreed to surrender her teaching license and registeras a sex offender.
Rebecca Boicelli, 33:Redwood City, Calif., woman gave birth to a baby last year and DNA testresults gave prosecutors enough evidence to prove the father isBoicelli’s former student, who was 16 at the time of conception. Shewas sentenced to two years in prison.
Rhianna Ellis, 24:Social-studies teacher at the High School for Health Professions andHuman Services in Manhattan, N.Y., allegedly began a 10-month sexualrelationship with an 17-year-old player on the school’s basketballteam, and reportedly gave birth to his baby. The teen boy evenintroduced Ellis to his parents, never indicating she was his teacher.
Robin Gialanella, 26:Teacher at Silver Bay Elementary School in Toms River, N.J., engaged inkissing, and inappropriate conduct and conversations with twosixth-grade boys, ages 11 and 12, in 2003 and 2004. She was sentencedto 364 days in jail with psychotherapy, must register as a sexoffender, will be under lifetime supervision and must surrender her NewJersey teaching certificate.
Robin Winkis, 29:English teacher at Central York High School in York, Pa., allegedly hadsex with a 17-year-old boy after giving him alcohol. Authorties accusedher of five alleged sex acts during October and November 2005. Shepleaded guilty as part of a deal, and was sentenced to two to 23 monthsin jail.
Samantha Solomon, 29:Guidance counselor at the High School for Health Professions and HumanServices in Manhattan, N.Y. was fired after school bosses learned shewas having sex with a teenage boy. She denies the allegations,attributing them to rumors gone wild.
Sandra “Beth” Geisel, 42:English teacher at Christian Brothers Academy, an all-boys school inAlbany, N.Y., allegedly had sex three times with a 16-year-old malestudent in May 2005, including once on school grounds in the footballstadium’s press box. Originally indicted in September for three countsof third degree rape, she pleaded guilty to a single count of rape andwas sentenced to six months in jail, and ranked as a Level 1 sexoffender, the lowest risk.
Shelley Allen, 35:Teacher’s aide from Cherokee County, Texas, was arrested in June 2005.Allen was charged with sexual assault of a child and faces a possible20 years behind bars.
Shelley White, 24:Geography teacher in Britain had been engaged to be married before shekissed a 15-year-old student on at least three occasions. She avoidedjail, but received 12 months community service.
Sherry Brians |
Sherry Brians, 41:Middle-school language-arts instructor in Buttonwillow, Calif.,originally arrested in January 2006 on suspicion of engaging in lewdacts with a 12-year-old male student, a felony that involves sexualcontact. She pleaded not guilty to two counts of annoying or molestinga child under 18.
Stephanie Burleson:Volleyball coach and teacher at Floresville High School in Texas sixyears ago, pleaded guilty to all charges for molesting a 16-year-oldfemale student. She was sentenced to 10 years probation, and requiredto register as a sex offender.
Susan Clickner, 47:The eighth-grade science teacher at Blanchard Middle School in Lowell,Mass., was sentenced to serve 18 months for having sex with one of herstudents in the back seat of her car. Clickner had been accused ofluring the 14-year-old during the summer of 2005 into the back seat ofher car and molesting him. He later told his parents, who notifiedpolice. She also was ordered to register as a sex offender.
Susan Eble, 35: Former teacher’s aide is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy.
Tara Lynn Crisp, 29: Police allege she had sex with a student at least three times beginning when he was 14.
Toni Lynn Woods, 37:Middle-school teacher in Braxton County, W.Va., confessed in 2005 tohaving sexual intercourse with three juveniles a total of four timesand oral sex with one of those juveniles and another juvenile a totalof four times. She reportedly described herself as a “monster” when shepleaded guilty. She resigned, surrendered her teaching certificate, andwas given consecutive sentences of one-to-five years on four counts ofthird-degree sexual assault.
Traci Tapp |
Traci Tapp, 28:Gym teacher at Hammonton High School in New Jersey accused of sexualcontact with three male students, including having sex in her homemultiple times in one night with a 16-year-old. In January 2006, sheavoided any jail or probation time by admitting inappropriate touching,but she lost her teaching license.
