"Bad Teachers" Episode Eight: Alissa McCommon

0:11 Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and today we are back with another bad teacher. Of all of these bad teachers I have covered so far, this one, this one is on a different level, really shocking story I'm going to tell you today, and I am taking you to the state of Tennessee and specifically Covington, Tennessee, which is about forty miles from Memphis, and I'm going to discuss the exploits of Elisa mccommon. So Alisa was born and raised in Covington, Tennessee. She has two siblings, a brother and a sister. Alissa was thirty eight years old and had two daughters of thirteen year old and a ten year old when she was arrested for the allegations I'm about to tell you about took place. Mccommon pursued a career in education and worked as a teacher at Crestview Elementary School before moving to Charger Academy, where she taught fourth grade English Language, Arts and social studies.

1:26 Now I've looked everywhere to find out exactly how long she had been teaching, and there's just nothing on that that I could find, So assuming that she started in her mid twenties, it's safe to assume she taught for at least a decade. Those who were friends with Alyssa, they said she had a friendly demeanor and was very trusted in the community, but behind the scenes, what was going on was a completely different story. Celeska back to August twenty fourth of twenty twenty three and the Tennessee Department of Children's Services they contact police regarding a sexual misconduct complaint between mccommon and a former student that took place in twenty twenty one when the victim was twelve years old, so at the time of the report to the police, the victim was fourteen. The police contacted the student and his parents and they agreed to meet with police on that same day, August twenty fourth of twenty twenty three. Now, the boy told detectives he spent the night at mccommon's house when he was twelve years old and in the seventh grade, and at some point that night, the boy said mcommon woke him up and sexually assaulted him by giving him oral sex. So at this point the investigation starts and it's a little hazy as to

2:58 why or if the police went to Alessa right away, or if they wanted to get more evidence first, or if she just refused to talk to them initially. But the school superintendent, they definitely made him aware. And it's important to note that she had just started that year with Charger Academy, so I'm sure this guy is like, who in the hell did we hire? Prior to that, she was at Cresview Elementary, as I told you, and she also coached softball at Cressview Middle School, which was in the same town. So on that same day, he meets with miss mccommon and he is quoted as saying, I am hearing from a mother about pictures that you have sent to boys and allegations about you having sex with boys, to which Mcommon responds, I'm a little freaked out.

3:55 I know I've sent some snaps like in a bathing suit or low tank top. I deleted everything. I don't care if my finest checked. Mcommon went on to say that she taught the boys quote unquote, and when the superintendent asked again about the pictures and some of the sexual stuff that took place at what was known as Glenn Springs Lake and y'all that's a lake in the area. She responded, there's no case. This is just people talking. So the superintendent he suspends her pending the outcome of the investigation, and she leaves. Now Here's where it gets really disturbing. During their investigation, police discovered not only is there one allegation from that then twelve year old who is now fourteen, but many, many more kids come forward saying that Mcommon befriended them and began playing video games with them online. The investigation revealed that Mcommon reportedly communicated with the boys through cel phoned social media apps and allegedly sent new photographs and then requested sexual relations with the victims. So on September eighth, the police release the following press release. The Covington Police Department in Tipton County Sheriff's Office or jointly investigating allegations of sexual misconduct involving

5:25 a local teacher in multiple juveniles. On twenty four August twenty twenty three, the Covington Police Department Criminal Division received information from a referral file from the Tennessee Department of Children's Services regarding allegations of sexual misconduct that had been reported involving a teacher and a former student. CPD detectives began the investigation and confirmed the teacher had been suspended without pay from her position at Tipton County Schools due to the allegations. The teacher was identified as Elyssa mccommon, thirty eight of Covington, Tennessee. Multiple juvenile victims have come forth stating they were befriended by their former teacher mccommon, who began playing video games with them and then further engaged with them through mobile phone social media apps, which led to her allegedly sending inappropriate photographs and requesting sexual relations with the victims. Mccommon admitted to communicating inappropriately with former students. There have been no evidence that any of the alleged activities occurred on any school campus. The Tipton County Sheriff's Office detectives began working jointly with CPD detectives after receiving information regarding a victim or victims who were exposed to similar circumstances within the county's jurisdiction outside of Covington city limits. The investigation is continuing in nature. As

6:56 the evidence further develops, further specific outs allegations are omitted due to the involvement of miners as victims. Today, Elissa mccommon was arrested in charged with rape of the child. Mccommon was transported to the Tipton County Jail and a twenty five thousand dollars bond has been set in the case. Detectives with both the Tipton County Sheriff's Office and Covington Police Department continue to interview witnesses and identifying victims in the case. Detectives have met with the DA's office about the ongoing jurisdictional investigation and additional charges are expected. Covington Police Department detectives continue to investigate this terrible exploitation and abuse of these young boys. We expect to also develop the investigation to determine accountability of other adults in the case, including those who were aware of the abuse and those who allowed or provided locations for such illegal acts to occur.

7:57 We will prosecute this case to the fullest and will continue to support the victims and their families during all aspects of the investigation. If anyone has any information or if you are concerned that your child may have been victimized, please contact the Covington Police Department and the statement ends. So that comes out and there's total shock from the community. Imagine if your kid went to school at that school and was taught by mcommon. One parent told Fox thirteen Memphis that when her son got home from school, she asked him if his teacher had been in school lately. She said her son told her that there was a substitute teacher because the school said the teacher was homesick, and went on to say, I do hope they take matters seriously because of any other situations. If it were a man doing it the opposite way, y'all would take it more seriously. Even if she did do it or didn't do it, it needs to be looked at and not swept under the rug. And y'all, if you've learned anything from this Bad Teacher series, it's that you know that that parent is speaking the unfiltered truth with that statement.

9:11 And keep in mind some of the teens and preteens that were reporting on the commons did not even go to the same school. She was meeting them through online gaming. It's also important to note that the charge of rape of a child under Tennessee law, and I quote, the charge of rape of a child is defined under Tennessee law as the unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or the defendant by a victim if the victim is more than eight years of age but less than thirteen years of age. So obviously, in this instance, that definitely qualifies for that charge. Now you might be wondering, if all these other kids are coming out, why just the one charge well to put but it's simply they're still gathering solid proof by this point. But the one charge alone is enough for an arrest. And initially they probably were thinking the same way I was at that point with that series of a charge. I mean, if you're curious the punishment if you're convicted of that charge, life in prison, Tennessee, don't play. So, if you were paying attention when I read that press release, you heard the bond was set at a mere twenty five thousand dollars.

10:31 Now in Tennessee, to make your bond, you have to come up with ten percent, which means a lessamer common had to pay twenty five hundred dollars to get out of jail. That is unheard of on a charge that could result in a life sentence. So why such a low bond? Who knows? In my research, I can't find anyone who can answer that question. But Alessa, as you would expect, bond's out of jail and a week later, on September fourteenth, she resigns from her job as a teacher. Now her attorney then releases this statement quote. We believe that it's borderline a witch hunt on social media, and that's frustrating to us. What we're asking is that the public be patient and allow the justice system to do its part and not create further persecution on the alleged victims or on the family of the defendant. He goes on and says, the Covington Police Department released a one sided press release which the court of public opinion has seized on to convict miss mccommon without having full knowledge of the facts or lack thereof uncovered during a proper investigation.

11:47 Miss mccommons maintains her innocence on the charge levy by the police department until the facts can be presented. The public should reserve judgment and remember that in a free society, we must rely on the criminal justice system to do it's part. Then the what the fuck part of this story happens. On September twenty eighth of twenty twenty three, mcommon is arrested again, this time for harassing and stalking a teenage victim. And y'all, I have the picture of that arrest and her husband, and I'll upload that to the Patreon page. But you can see him at the door when she's actually getting handcuffed. In the look on his face, I mean, it's really hard to describe, but you'll see what I mean when I put it up on the Patreon. It's just a clueless look. Say. She is transported back to the Tipton County Jail and she was charged with coercion of a witness, aggravated stalking, tampering with evidence, and harassment. And this time she gets held without bond until her court appearance. Then the information on what led to the second arrest comes out. Get ready for this. On September twenty sixth, twenty twenty three, just two days prior to that second arrest, the police Department learned miss mccommon was using a new phone number. Later,

13:19 determined to be a burner phone to contact a victim. She reportedly texted the victim a previously established code word to confirm that they were alone, which she used to do before sending new photos through Snapchat, and sent multiple text messages to the victim to indicate they would regret doing this, meaning going to authorities. The boy's mother apparently alerted police when she learned mccommon had been contacting her son via those text messages four separate times after her release. When officers rearrested mccommon, the affidavit said that she did not have a phone anymore and that it was broke into pieces. She is accused of buying a new phone at Walmart to contact that victim. So mccommon is now charged with all those charges of just Reggie. This particular victim is not the victim that she sexually assaulted in twenty twenty one, totally different victim. It's also worth noting that Judge William Peeler recused himself from hearing the matter because quote, Miss mccommon's husband was a former deputy as well as bailiff in his court. Now, I'm not saying that had anything to do with the low bell amount.

14:40 But it was definitely the right thing to do to recuse yourself. But I found it interesting that that relationship existed. So then another bombshell comes out on October third of twenty twenty three that lessamer common buckle up, get ready for this said she was pregnant with victim number one's baby. It seems that on September twenty eighth, the same day she was arrested for the second time, police had the cell phone of victim number one bugged and she called him and they picked up quite the recording. Listen to this your kids, Okay, okay, I watch chicken. You won't never get from a cash Please don't say anything. Couple your song much stressed and so scanty and just forget wait or talk okay to say, I mean, this cannot possibly get any more Wow. So police, they got some pretty solid evidence here, you would think, and remember this woman has a family, two kids, a husband, and her attorney made some statements regarding the family and what they were having to deal with along with this new found

16:13 information that mccommon was pregnant. He was quoted as saying mccommon's family is experiencing some ridicule after she was accused of raping a minor. She's human and she has a family too, and they're victims arguably on both sides of this case. Regardless of her guilt or innocence. She's got two minor children herself. They've had to pull them out of school, and they're experiencing some ridicule. He said that he knows mccommon's husband very well after they worked as sheriff's deputies together, and added, my perception has always been they were good folks, and say, regardless of her guilt or innocence, any person in this situation would be under extreme mental stress, and I just have to defend her properly.

16:57 I have to know that my client is understanding everything and in the right mind about everything. When asked about the pregnancy, her attorney said that he did not have any evidence to prove that one way or the other. So then they asked about the text that were sent by Elissa, and he said, it's not a registered phone. It's just some random number. They don't have the phone or any proof of registration, so they had these text messages. Someone in the text thread claims there Alissa and then prosecutors trying to infer that there was some code words used that had been previously used by mccommon. Now this is a big case and police are sifting through several potential victims in gathering evidence, and on March fifth of twenty twenty four, a grand jury indicts ALYSSA mcommon on get this, twenty three additional counts after investigation by the police.

18:00 Investigators said they identified twenty one potential victims. The twenty three charges are related to five of those victims, who ranged in age from twelve to seventeen. The charges against mcommon were as follows, rape of a child one count, five counts of aggravated statutory rape, four counts of sexual exploitation by electronic means, four counts of solicitation of a minor to commit aggravated statutory rape, two counts of statutory rate by an authority figure, two counts of coercion of a witness, two counts of aggravated stalking, violation of the Child Protective Act, tampering with evidence and those are one count each in one count of harassment. She pleaded not guilty to all the new charges which she's gonna do that.

18:56 She's got nothing to lose. She would be facing a lot sentence if convicted on all those counts, or even just some of those accounts. Quite frankly. Mcommon was formally served the charges in the Tipton County jail where she was being held, and she got a new attorney, someone by the name of Laura Futch. Mccommon's due defense attorney told Fox News quote, we anticipated that the indictment would be coming, Covington Police Chief Donna Turner. She said, it shocks me. And then again, I've been doing this long enough that these investigations are just sad. There's nobody that wins in these investigations. It has been a little over seven months since we initially started the investigation and it has not stopped since then, and it's going to continue from this point forward. She went on to say, our goal in any of this is to identify any potential victims and provide medical assistance, counseling, and support for their families throughout the investigation. Without this VI intervention, the ripple effect of trauma can last for years with the victims and the family get it. The Tipton County Sheriff Shannon Beasley weighed in as well and said we have worked with our victims and families in order to bring mccommon to justice, and we will allow the judicial system to run its course. She went on to say, for now, mccommon will remain in jail and await her Dane court with the crossing of jurisdictional boundaries or detectives have work

20:26 closely with the Covington Police Department, in the District Attorney General's office, as well as a school board and the Carl Perkins Center to reach these indictments, and a trial day is finally set now. On June seventeenth of twenty twenty four, mccommon attended a hearing to discuss her finances to see if she could afford to continue funding her case. She said she had ownership and equity in a retirement account from the Tipton County school Board, but doesn't know how much is in there now. One of her defense attorney's, Jason Ballager, he asked the judge to consider declaring mcommon indingent, meaning she can't adequately fund her own defense. The state requested that the court examine her expenses and phone calls, and also mentioned that mccommon's house was up for sale and after its sales, it could fund her defense. The judge said that in order to declare mccommon indingent, he would need to know how much money is in a retirement account and if it's less than ten thousand dollars.

21:30 The judge requested a financial statement to be handed over to court before the next date, July second, of twenty twenty four, to make his decision. So on July second, for her next hearing, mccommon appeared to be slimmer, indicating that she may have had a baby. Now. In that first hearing, her baby bump was visible, but in that second hearing it was not, and the appearance was nine months after she first mentioned that pregnancy. Now, it did come across another article that stated that the baby was born and was later confirmed by DNA to be the victim's child. But did it the sensitivity? I can't find more than one source, so take that with a grain of salt. But I'll post pictures kind of before and after of mccommon in those hearings that were nine months apart, and you tell me what you think. It's also important to note that there's no law requiring states to report the number of pregnant inmates or the outcomes of their pregnancies, So if they didn't report it, they're not outside the realm of public information by not reporting it. Let's put it that way. So we'll move on to August nineteenth of twenty twenty three, and the judge rules that mccommon would have at least two separate trials. A judge grain in emotion for mccommon's defense attorneys to sever some of the charges in her case, which means that when her trial begins in January, we'll focus on only one alleged

23:02 victim rather than the three that by this time they had listed in the indictment. Macommon will stand trial on the remaining charges after the first trial ends, but that case would never make it to trial. Mcommon she must have seen the light and the evidence, and on December twentieth, twenty twenty four, she cops a plea alyssa. Mcommon pleaded guilty to a dozen child sex crimes and was sent uced to twenty five years in prison, running concurrently with no chance of parole, as well as having to register as a violent sex offender and undergo community supervision for the rest of her life. Mcommon was also barred from any contact with her victims, including the child who was born out of one of her crimes. Her teacher's license will also revoked. She pleaded guilty to one kunt of rape, two counts of statutory rape by an authority figure, three counts of aggravated statutory rape, three counts of sexual exploitation of a miner electronic means, two counts of solicitation of a minor, aggravated statutory rape in one count of Child Protection Act. So let's break it down on that sentencing.

24:25 For the rape of the child, she got twenty five years at one hundred percent. She just serve the whole thing. For the statutory rape by an authority figure, she had two counts. She got eight years total at one hundred percent for this statutory rape aggravated three counts. She got two years at one hundred percent for this sexual exploitation of a miner. She also got two years at one hundred percent and that was for three counts. And she also got two years at one hundred percent for solicitation of a minor to commit aggravated state atatory rape two counts. Then she got two years at one hundred percent for violation of the Child Protective Act. So let's talk about that just real quick. These were concurrent, meaning that whatever the top sentence is, which in this case is the twenty five years and one hundred percent for rape of a child, she serves all of that. She doesn't have to then serve eight years, then serve two years, et cetera.

25:28 The concurrent means that you serve all those charges at the same time, twenty five years being the most, so she will be released in twenty five years. Mccommon was originally charged with nearly two dozen crimes, though the others were dismissed by agreement, as stated by Circuit Court Judge Blake Neil, who handled the sentencing now in court. During her sentencing assistant DA Jennie Reagan, she recounted the events from twenty twenty one, and she detailed a lot of we didn't know of, including the disturbing sexual relationship McCammon had had with that twelve year old and some other victims.

26:08 As a matter of fact, five victims, some were her students, and one was an individual she met at a party, and the other was someone she met while playing Fortnite. You got a freaking thirty eight year old teacher playing Fortnite? Give me a break. Mcammon befriended the children's mothers. She exploited her position of authority by doing that. According to prosecutors, the former teacher get This called one of the victims nearly two hundred times, played video games with him, and sent explicit photos on Snapchat. In one of the messages, she even threatened to kill herself if he broke off the relationship. Assistant District Attorney Reagan also shared elaborate details on the two year sexual relationship she had with the first victim, identified as Ab, who she became pregnant. Reagan said this was an intense case for sure. It took a team. Stephanie drawn assisted me in this case along with the assistant Da Amy Wyrick. We all worked together on this worked really hard and involved a lot of communication with the families the child that was identified as Ab on the indictment. District Attorney Mark Davidson said, the District Attorney General's Office commends the incredible, courageous victims who came forward to testify along with their parents. What do you think the mothers of the victims thought about this? Well, One victim's mother stated in court, I loved you like family,

27:40 opened my doors to you, used our friendship to hurt me and the people I love in this world. Took innocence from my son before puberty, took what was supposed to be a great experience and tainted it. Your mind is sick and twisted for looking at a child and being turned on. Couldn't agree with her more on that, and there you have it. In my view, in this case, this teacher would have never stopped a serial rapist of the worst kind. In my opinion, if you cannot help yourself even when you are out on bond, you have problems, major problems. I think they should have went forward with the trial so that she could get a life sentence and not get out on a plea bargain. But I do understand you are then in a position where you got to have countless kids testify relive those nightmares. Still, this is one sick individual right here. And as I told you, no information about that baby was ever given other than that the baby was born, not sure the sex of the baby, or if it's in the custody of the biological father's family. Nobody seems to have that information, but I did look for it. And before I close this out, normally we have a Wednesday episode. We will

29:13 not be dropping an episode tomorrow. On Thursday, I'm dropping a murd All Jailhouse Phone Call special. This will be volume four. I've never dropped that before. I'm going to be dropping that on Thursday. We have some business things I have to take care of here in the studio, so I want to make sure y'all get something good and entertaining. So on Thursday, I am dropping a murd All Jailhouse phone call. Addition, everybody seems to love that, and then next week we should be back on a regular schedule. Thank you so much for listening. Leave a review if you're so inclined, and check us out on Patreon for commercial for early releases, bonus episodes, files of everything I discuss, and even quarterly gifts at patreon dot com, slash exposed podcast files, and until next time for exposed scandalous files of the elite. I'm your host, Jim Chapman.

30:27 Much love,