Teacher have sex with student (2014 edition)

[moe.ron]

Math teacher, 24, 'raped two of her students - one aged just 15 - and sent sexual photos to a third'

A 24-year-old high school teacher has confessed to performing sex acts with multiple students, one as young as 15 years old, inside her locked classroom, as well as sending them sexualized pictures of herself.

Meredith Powell, of Tacoma, Washington, allegedly is accused of sending three male students inappropriate pictures of herself in a bathtub, as well as engaging in sex acts with two of the students, police said.

Powell, a math teacher at Lincoln High School, pleaded not guilty on Friday to two counts of third-degree child rape and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes for alleged inappropriate conduct with three students, according to The News Tribune.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-another.html

[Kevin]

I hate that these stories get international attention.

She confessed though.... Why do people ever think cooperating with the police is going to help them?

[angels&angles]

My (biological) sister shares a name with the teacher in a similar story. She and this teacher have the same name, are the same age, and live in the same area of the country (in fact, for a while my sister got this woman's overdue billing notices from her university!). It's not a very common name, either. Luckily my sister is not a teacher or even in a similar profession.

However, if you try to google my sister, stories about this other woman (who is, again, the same age & in the same region) are the first 17 PAGES of Google hits! Better hope my sis doesn't need a background check any time soon…

(She also said when the story broke that she got a LOT of friend requests on FB from teenage boys and that the number of people looking at her LinkedIn profile went through the roof!)

[Phrozen Sands]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I hate that these stories get international attention.

She confessed though.... Why do people ever think cooperating with the police is going to help them?

It beats resisting.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Phrozen Sands

It beats resisting.

It doesn't. A good defense lawyer would have had a fighting chance based on what we know.

(of course, there may be other things we don't know)

When this first aired, until I read there had been a confession, I could have easily seen this as a case where three kids who had an axe to grind made all of this up and to corroborate their story, stole her cell phone and sent themselves those questionable pictures. Kids these days and whatnot.

[ASUADPi]

I just don't understand these women. I'm 34 and I have absolutely NO ATTRACTION to a 15 year old. I just don't get it.

As for her confessing, I guess I don't really have an opinion. As someone who was falsely accused of child abuse, the whole process is HELL. It was HELL having to defend myself to everyone when I knew I did nothing wrong and that it was 2 parents with an axe to grind. Thankfully I was cleared but I definitely see things a whole lot differently now.

[carnation]

Does your state allow you to sue the false accusers, now that you've been cleared? I would.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Kevin

It doesn't. A good defense lawyer would have had a fighting chance based on what we know.

As for cooperating with the police, in general:

There are people (disproportionately racial and ethnic minority men) who learned the hard way that cooperating with the police is usually not optional. Many of these people are of lower socioeconomic status and cannot afford a "good" defense attorney which is why public defenders are so swamped.

I know Black men who had no criminal record but were beaten by the police because they did not cooperate with police questioning and the police made assumptions. This includes Black men in lower income neighborhoods who contacted the police on behalf of "neighborhood watch" and were accused by the police of being the "real criminals". These Black men thought "I won't cooperate, I am a law abiding citizen and I have a good attorney". Fail. I can tell you that although these Black men are well-educated law abiding citizens they now stay the hell away from the police. They were always told that their trust for the police was more along the lines of the trust that white people tend to have for the police. Now these Black men understand what people meant.

There are also people in the legal and criminal justice systems who admit that they completely understand why people cooperate with the police. The majority of people (especially men) in lower income and racial and ethnic minority communities are taught all of their lives to cooperate with the police.

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by carnation

Does your state allow you to sue the false accusers, now that you've been cleared? I would.

I contacted a friend who is a lawyer and he told me that I don't have a case (even though I have the written letters of which they accused me of child abuse).

I was unable to contact any lawyers in my current town. I'm not sure how it would work as they are in NC (albeit in military housing) and I'm in TN now and moving back to AZ.

I would LOVE to go after them for defamation as people need to learn that you can't spread lies about someone without facing the consequences of your actions.

[carnation]

I would ask other lawyers to make sure, since you have written proof. I do know that in many states, someone can be criminally prosecuted and/or sued if it can be shown that the report was made maliciously.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by carnation

I would ask other lawyers to make sure, since you have written proof. I do know that in many states, someone can be criminally prosecuted and/or sued if it can be shown that the report was made maliciously.

And if the report was knowingly false. He may be right that you don't have a criminal case, but did you look at civil court?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

And if the report was knowingly false. He may be right that you don't have a criminal case, but did you look at civil court?

If she talked to a lawyer about whether she had a case, I'm assuming that was about a civil suit. A criminal case would be the district attorney, or whatever the state in question calls them, and the case would be brought by the state, not an individual.