"Bad Teachers" Episode One: Kayla Mooney

0:00 Now, I've been working on this concept for quite a while called bad Teachers, And before we get into the actual episode, I'm going to kind of explain where this came from. I did an episode on a scandal that took place in Louisiana, actually involving two teachers way early on during Exposed, and I have a lot of listeners that had reached out saying they would love to have all the teachers that are doing these wild, horrible, awful things exposed by telling their stories and really putting it out there. And I got no problem with that. You know, play stupid games, get stupid prizes. Right now. To be clear, I have an absolute ton of friends that are teachers that I would consider very good friends, and they're all educators, and one thing is the same. When I talk to every one of them about this, they hate it as much as anybody else or worse. And I'm referring to the teacher student relationships that seem to be occurring every single freaking day in society. It's horrible, and they hate it more than anybody else. And I'm speaking of the good teachers because it gives the entire teaching industry a bad name. When these idiots do shit like that, so they want these people exposed as much as anybody else.

1:26 And so that's just what we're going to do. So here it is episode one, and I need to say that this one is going to absolutely shock you, but maybe not in the way that you think. And that's all I'm going to say from Jump Street on this one. But get ready for a major plot twist towards the end. So today we're going to talk about Kayla Mooney. And Kayla Mooney she was a physics teacher at Danbury High School in Danbury, Connecticut. Now this was in twenty fifteen. She was twenty four years old and she was in her first year of teaching at that school. And to describe Caylen Mooney, she was a very attractive young lady.

2:11 She had long, flowing brown hair. She was very fit, very well put together. And the reason that I spend some time describing perpetrators a lot, especially female teachers, is because there's a fallacy of sorts that anyone that will participate in any sort of illicit behavior between a student and a teacher must be very unattractive. She can't get anything else or he can't get anything else. And he is very unattractive, and so the only option they have is to hit on their students, right, And there's nothing further from the truth. So I want you to get that out of your mind frame. As a matter of fact, in the research I've done, many of these teachers are attractive people. So life for Caylen Mooney up to this point, it was pretty much just getting started. If you're above the age of forty, I mean twenty four, I think back to when you were twenty four, I mean the life was in the palm of your hands at that point, right.

3:10 And as I said, she was in that very first year of teaching, So I'm sure no one was more shocked than her when on March twenty seventh of twenty fifteen, an arrest warrant application was signed and she was to be arrested. And we're going to get into why. And I actually have that arrest warrant in front of me, and that's what I'm going to cover with you now. An officer he goes to the State of Connecticut Superior Court. He has a report and it is an arrest warrant application, and he covered it in great detail. In this particular officer he was assigned to the Danbury Police Department Special Victims Unit, And y'all, the Special Victims Unit is responsible for investigating crimes of sexual assault specifically now as this is done in all cases of sexual assault of minors, they refer to them as John Doe's in arrest warrants affidavits to protect their identity. So throughout this when you hear John Doe, that's who that's referring to. And it says the suspect is twenty four year old KAYLEB. Mooney who resides in Danbury, Connecticut. Several witnesses in this investigation or juveniles, will be referred to as juveniles one through ten. So, according to the affidavit, Officer Morlock, the school resource officer at Danbury High School, was contacted by the principal and it was in regards to a sexual complaint. Officer Morlock,

4:43 he goes to the main office and he meets with other school administrators who had received a complaint. This was on February sixth of twenty fifteen from Danbury High School physics teacher Kaylem Mooney that a student juvenile one, called her a slow and sent Mooney an email which read so happy you're leaving you scum. So Juvenile one was interviewed the next school day by members of the school administration, and Juvenile one admitted to call him Mooney a slut and that she she did this because she was angry with Mooney because her ex boyfriend and Danburry High School student John Doe had sex with Mooney on eleven one of twenty fourteen. Houston, we have a problem, right. Juvenile one also reported that Mooney gave John Doe alcohol as well.

5:42 So at that point, the school administrators they put Mooney on administrative leave. I mean, they got to investigate this, right, so they don't arrest her at that point. So they called John Doe in and they interview him. School officials do, and John Doe says that on October thirty first of twenty fourteen, Halloween night, and one other time several weeks later, he and Mooney had sex in a car near what was known as the East Lake Reservoir. So Officer Merlock he contacts the victim's mother and we're going to call her mother dough and he advised her that he would be conducting an investigation into the allegations. And he makes arrangements to meet with her and her son on February eleventh.

6:34 The very next day in the afternoon, the officer also requested she bring her son's cell phone to the headquarters prior to the meetings so that it could be examined. So they're going to download email information, text information, all that sort of thing to cooperate his story. So the student stated that he had communicated with Moody several times via his cell phone through text message, and so the mom and the Sun they bring the cell phone to the headquarters on the eleventh. At that meeting, they provide it to a detective Labania who then requested that crime scene technicians take the phone and extract the data from that phone. They do that and they return the phone back to the mother and son. So that same day, the officer he begins to examine the extraction report created from the Sun's phone, and he was able to locate Mooney's cell phone number and it was listed under her initials KLA, and it showed phone activity from October twenty ninth of twenty fourteen through December fifteenth of twenty fourteen.

7:46 Now they were unable to find any text messages. They just saw that phone calls were made back and forth from those two parties. However, the officer did observe text messages to John Doe's friends beginning on eleven two of twenty fourteen, where John Doe was describing having sex will miss money in her car over the previous night. Now, this is him talking to his friends throughout those text messages. The John Doe also mentioned that he would be getting straight a's and that Mooney is going to go to jail. Now, as the texts were followed into the month of December of twenty fourteen, John Doe he starts urging people to keep quiet about the incident, and towards the end of the year in twenty fourteen and kind of the start of twenty fifteen, John Doe starts to reference incidents where Mooney wrote him up in school and he continues the text by saying, I don't know, but she's going to jail.

8:46 So toward the end of the text up to that date of the report, which was remember this is February tenth, when all this started and the reports were made, John Doe is texting a friend saying that the administrations know about miss Mooney, and he also texts that he's going to go to AT and T and he's going to print up messages between Mooney and himself. And when questioned in a text whether or not they believe him, John Doe responds, they do. I just need evidence if I want to get money from this whole thing. That's interesting. So on the eleventh, we're still on the eleventh of twenty fifteen. While examining that report, the officer viewed several deleted text messages and I messages from John Doe's cell phone, and he was able to view multiple deleted text messages between John Doe and those identified as several of his contacts or deleted contacts around the time which John Doe stated that he had received messages from Moonie and had subsequently deleted them. But again, he was not able to recover any text messages that John Doe stated had occurred between him and the teacher, miss Mooney. So he's just kind of going off of the kid's word at this point.

10:07 So on the eleventh, Detective Liabonia and Officer Marlocke they interview John Doe at the Danbury Police Department. In John Doe, he states that Kayla Mooney was one of his teachers, and he states that she became friendly with him in the twenty fourteen twenty fifteen school year. He stated that Miss Mooney started treating him differently than other students and that she showed favoritism. He felt like ingrading him now. According to John Doe, in or around October of twenty fourteen, he began communicating with Kaylea Mooney via his and Kaylea Mooney's cell phone back and forth, and he also said he communicated her via the school's email account. He also stated that there was a kid inc Concert whatever that is.

10:56 He stated that this concert was taking place and he talked to Miss Mooney and she said, oh, I would love to go with you to this concert basically, and she provides him with her personal email. So John Doe he said that she might get in trouble for going to that concert with him, and he said that all of a sudden, Cale Mooney she starts talking about sexual relationships she's had in the past with people, and he thought that that was kind of weird. And he said that she then contacted him the night before that concert and basically said, Hey, I'm excited about going and I definitely still play on going with you. So John Doe, he tells her, Hey, look, I don't think this will be a good idea for you to go to that concert, but we can meet up after the concert. There might be a lot of people there that will see the teacher instead of right. So, according to him, Cala Mooney says, okay, that's fine, I'll pick you up outside of the concert.

11:56 But she says, you're going to have to run in my car because I don't want anyone seeing you get in my car like at the front of the building. So John Doe, he said that he would eventually end up leaving the concert early and he ends up going to a friend's house. He said, around eleven pm, Calen Mooney contacts him again and she asked if he still wanted her to pick him up. So, according to him, he told her that he had left the party and he was at a friend's house at this point, and he makes arrangements with her to meet her down the street from his friend's house. So, he said, he goes and meets her. He gets in the passenger seat of her car and he said, I think it's a black outie because of course they're trying to cooperate his information. Well, if he got in her car, what does it look like, right, So he says, once he got into the car, they talked for like hours, several hours, but he wasn't sure how long. He said. At that point, they began kissing, and that he moved his seat back. He said, Caleb Mooney he then began giving him a blow job. He said.

13:03 At that point they both removed all of their clothing. Caylea Mooney gets on top of him while he's in the passenger seat, and he said, I even remember reclining the passenger seat and the two had vaginal sex. After that was done, John Doe said that Caylea Mooney got off of him and sat back in the driver's seat, and then he said, it was like reality basically just hit her all at once. She gets really nervous, he said, she was so scared. As a matter of fact, she starts shaking. So she starts the car and she drives him back to his friend's house. So, he said, after that incident, they remained kind of in constant contact and a few weeks later, this was on November one of twenty fourteen, He calls Kyla Mooney and he says, hey, can you come pick me up from my house? And he said that Calea Mooney. She arrives at his house around eleven PM and he goes out. He's basically sneaks out of his house to meet her and they drive to what's known as East Lake Reservoir. Upon arrival, he said that Caylea Mooney, she gives him a six pack of Smeirnoff vodka and that she had wine with her.

14:20 And he said she had a blanket that she brought from her car and they kind of lay that out on the grass and they're drinking. They started talking, they started kissing, and that led to him and her having sex again. And he actually wrote the following in his sworn written statement, and I'm gonna read that verbatim. He said, I was in KYLEA. Mooney's physics class, and the relationship started pretty harmless. We joked around and laughed with each other on different occasions, and we were basically a normal teacher student relationship until I had left a net on her desk. I'd asked her if she wanted to go to a kid Inc Concert and left the note on the desk. After this, I emailed her asking if she wanted to go, and after a couple of emails, she stopped answering. I asked her the next day why she did cease to answer, and she told me I couldn't email her on the school's account, so she gave me her personal email and told me to email her on that.

15:20 So I did, and after a couple of emails, she gave me her number to give to another teacher and I asked her if I could text her, and she said yes, So we texted and we continued to talk for a while, and then on the night of the concert, I asked her to pick me up for my friend's house. She agreed. She picked me up a couple of roads away and we drove to top Cedar Road and we sat and talked for a couple of hours. We then kissed and I moved my seat back and she gave me a blood job. Then I took her shirt off and we had sex. Then a couple of weeks later, I asked her to pick me up for my house and she did. This was around eleven PM and she brought me to East Lake resid and then handed me alcohol.

16:02 She had bought for me. We then went on to the ridge on East Lake and we started to talk again. She kissed me and we proceeded to have sex again. After the second time, we continued to text until a bunch of students brought the incident to light. She then blocked my number. So that was his statement written statement. So on February twelfth of twenty fifteen, Officer Morlock he calls the mother of this student and he requested that she provide him with AT and T bills for the months of October, November, and December of twenty fourteen, and he wanted the report that showed both calls and text.

16:45 Now he wouldn't see the actual text, but he would see the numbers that were texting back and forth. Right, So the mom she emails him the bill details and he views those, and he sees several calls at around the same time that the student is saying all these things occurred. He even sees some videos or pictures being texted. It'll say pick video message, but it doesn't actually show what it was. It'll just say it was a multimedia picture sent. So on that same day, the officer speaks with the Human Resource director and that human resource director.

17:25 She was able to receive copies of emails that were made through the school's email system, and on these emails you can actually, you know, you see the whole emails. So he was able to corroborate several things that the student was saying. As a matter of fact, one email dated ten twenty six at one eight pm from John Doe's school email is in fact inviting Mooney to that kid inc concert. Mooney responded to that email by saying Friday, like Halloween, to which the student responds, oh, wait, not Friday, It's on Saturday. My bad. The next email from the student says, can I just text emails are dumb? Laugh out loud? Dot dot dot or is that weird? And Money replies, I don't know. I don't think it's weird, but probably one hundred percent not alloud. Then the next email John Doe sends to her account says, laugh out loud, all right, I won't say anything, it's just emails are so annoying, and she replies to that with her actual phone number. So the next thing the detectives want to do they want to search her vehicle. Now she did not drive what the student said she drove. She actually drove a Voltswagon Passe and they see that Voltswagon in a driveway and they approach a house and actually Kaylea

18:55 Mooney's father was there at that time and said Kayla was not currently home. And they said, well, we want to search this vehicle, and say the father provides the key to that vehicle and allows them to search it. They took some swabs for DNA to try to prove that the student was in the car. However, nothing was found that matched that student. So on February sixteenth, Mooney's student assistant in the physics class. The detectives talked to her and she mentioned that it was kind of all over school the students were all talking about this alleged affair between the student and Mooney. But it's important to mention right here this student was a big time troublemaker in the school, according to a lot of the other teachers.

19:47 She said he disrupted the class constantly when Mooney was teaching, and that Mooney at one point asked to have the student removed from her class. So they go talk to some other juveniles who were at that kid inc Concert and one of them will call juvenile number two. The officers talked to him and he says, all I know that happened happened on the day of the Kid Ink concert. I was at the concert with John Doe. We left went to a party at a friend's house, and he was there, meaning John Doe, for about thirty to forty five minutes, and then he left with Miss Mooney and he says, I went back to my house at that point.

20:31 But there were a couple of other people at that house as well, and they actually say that they witnessed John Doe when he came back after leaving with Miss Mooney, and the first thing out of his mouth was, I just had sex and with Miss Mooney. This friend also said that two weeks later, he went over to John Doe's house asked where he was, and one of the other friends said, well, he's up the street with Miss Mooney and that was the incident at the reservoir, and he said, I was there when he got back from that in the first thing out his mouth is I just had sex with her again. So on February sixteenth, they interview what we're going to call juvenile number four.

21:11 Juvenile number four indicated that he was friends with John Doe and that he had recordings on his phone of John Doe speaking with Miss Mooney about not switching him out of her class because he didn't really know anything about physics, and those recordings were dated one, sixteen of twenty fifteen. In the first recording, it sounds as though John Doe initially says, this is my boy, Juvenile four going in for the kill right now. John Doe then says, going around the corner and putting it into my pocket. In the beginning of this recording, John Doe is talking to a female who Juvenile four identifies as being Miss Mooney.

21:56 John Doe and Mooney are heard on the recording discussing John being late to class. John Doe is heard asking Mooney if she is still changing his classroom. Money replies to John Doe, saying that his guidance counselor told her that John Doe was getting his classroom changed four days ago. John Doe then asked Money to change it, and she said she can't change that. John Doe then says to Mooney that her giving John Doe a detention is not a normal teacher student relationship. Mooney replies, me giving you a detention. John Doe then says, I'm saying this whole thing is not a normal teacher student relationship. Money then replies, I know that's why the principal wanted you out of my class. John Doe then stated, I think you want me out of my class too. Mooney replies, I didn't say anything to the principal. John Doe then said that he is not trying to be a dick and that he is not trying to blackmail her, but that he doesn't want to switch class. John Doe continues speaking with Mooney and is heard telling her the other kids show up to class late and they're not giving an attention.

23:08 Money then tells John Doe deal with me for one more semester and then I'm gone and you won't have to deal with me anymore. John Doe and this Money are then her continuing to discuss John Doe getting switched out of her class, and the recording then becomes muffled and subsequently stops, and then there was a second round of recordings between John Doe and Mooney, and John Doe begins the recordings by saying round two coming up. The conversation between John Doe and Mooney begins by Mooney saying I didn't want to talk to juvenile number six. I don't know what's going on. The conversation then becomes muffled and hard to understand. At some point, when the conversation becomes easier to understand, John Doe begins talking to Mooney about him becoming a target. John Doe then begins talking about out someone, asking him if it is true. John Doe then said I don't know how people find out about it. Maybe my brother found it on my phone.

24:10 Money is then heard saying okay, I don't want to hear it. John Doe and Mooney are then heard discussing the detention he received for Mooney. Money then explains to John Doe that she is not trying to single him out. John Doe and Mooney then begin discussing rumors, and Money says to John Doe that there should not be rumors about teachers. Money then tells John Doe, I am twenty four years old. I am too old for this shit. The two continue to discuss John Doe getting switched out of Minie's class, and Money is then heard saying to John Doe there are ninety four days of school left and after that they will be out of each other's life forever and never have to see each other again.

24:54 Money then begins talking to John Doe about the rumors about him. John Doe then said that he had squashed all of those rumors, and John Doe then said, the first week, I don't know how it spread. The conversation then becomes muffled yet again, and it sounds as if John Doe is walking away, and then he's heard at the end of the recording saying, okay, so I'm not sure if she's playing games. If she is, there's a big, huge cell with the name Calem Mooney inscribed on it. So they continue investigating, and on February seventeenth, they talked to Juvenile number nine, an eleventh grade student, over the telephone, and Juvenile number nine states that Mooney is her cousin and that she does not believe Mooney ever had sex with John Doe. Juvenile number nine stated that Mooney had complained to her about the issues with John Doe. However, Mooney always told her that she did not have any kind of relationship with John Doe. So they continue investigating and eventually they get like the cell tower information for when John Doe and Mooney were talking, and it's pinging areas, right.

26:06 It kind of triangulates that, so it doesn't give you like an exact position, but it would back up his story of where they were located at the time. It kind of coroborated that. And eventually those detectives they were able to get Cayle Mooney's cell phone and they did the same thing extracted and they could see that they were communicating back and forth. They could see the numbers, right, but they couldn't see the contents of like the texts they have already been deleted. They knew they were texting back and forth, but she was deleting them. Well, why were you deleting them if it was innocent stuff? Right?

26:46 So on February twentieth of twenty fifteen, they finally get to interview Kyle Mooney. So she arrives at the headquarters with her attorneys, and the officer escorts Money and her attorneys to an interview room and they began conducting that interview regarding the allegations. The detective started off by advising Mooney of the reason for the investigation, and he asked her about her relationship with John Doe. Mooney confirmed that John Doe was a student in her eighth period physics class. Money confirmed that John Doe left a note on her desk requesting she attend a kid inc concert. Mooney stated that she did not attend this concert, but communicated with John Doe through emails. Inquiring as to whether a fellow teacher was going, Money stated that she emailed her cell number to John Doe to pass on to the other teacher, not for himself. Maney stated that this was how she believes that John Doe was able to get her cell number.

27:53 She also stated that the few emails between John Doe and herself were initially sent through the school's email system, but then likely switched to her Gmail account when she responded from her iPhone, as her email accounts are linked in her iPhone settings. When the detective asked Money about John Doe's number phone number being listed in her phone without a name, she responded that it needed to be listed as she wanted John Doe's number blocked from calling her. The detective asked Many if she had contact with John Doe outside of school, and she indicated that she didn't think so. When the detective advised Money that he had phone records from John Doe's cell as well as from her cell through a search warrant. She stated she could not recall the phone calls that he was mentioning. Money did indicate that she had communicated with several people on the night of Halloween because she was complaining about being at a country bar in Stanford with a friend who was a teacher at another school. Money indicated she may have communicated with John Doe when she was texting several other people. Many went on to say she did not attend the Kidding concert, but rather she stayed at home with her parents and her brother. So the detective asked Many about the events that occurred when she was having issues with John Doe at school. Remember all that stuff about her transferring him out of class. Money stated she initially was notified by a teacher by the name of Grant Cox about a rumor between her and John Doe.

29:25 This was on December fifteenth of twenty fifteen. Money stated that Cox told her that another teacher, Jack Tracy, had more information regarding the rumor and that it was about alcohol and sex. Mooney began to get upset when she was describing this incident. The detective then asked Money how this issue was handled, and she told him that it had to be addressed by school administration and it was determined to be unfounded. However, she was not notified until eight days later when she emailed Chris Davidson. I guess that's a principle regarding the status, Money stated that on the day before the winter break, she had a confrontation with John Doe when John Doe was late for class and she warned him with a referral. It should be noted that the detective received John Doe's school records and he view the attendance in Mooney's class and he had like ten total absences y'all in eight parties. Money stated that John Doe responded by saying, I fucking dare you?

30:28 So she proceeded to fill out the referral form that's like a write up. Money again appeared to be upset discussing the issue, and Money stated that she was not able to submit the form until after winter break, which would be early January of twenty fifteen. Money stated she did not believe John Doe was disciplined as a result of her referral at the time, Mooney stated that she attempted to have John Doe switch to another class. When the detective asked Many if she were called any conversations with regarding the removal from her class, she stated that he approached her and wanted to convince her to not have him move. The detective then advised Moody that John Doe had two separate recordings that he had made with Juvenile four's cell phone of those meetings. Maney stated that she did not recall some of the details that the detective was describing to her, indicating she did not want to have a full argument about the situation in the class.

31:29 Mooney then described the continued events, including the talk with Juvenile number seven and incident with Juvenile one that led her to being placed on administrative leave. The detective then went back to the phone records and when he questioned Mooney about the phone call that John Doe made to her on the night of Wednesday, November twenty sixth, twenty fourteen, she stated she did not recall that John Doe called her asking her to buy him alcohol. Many stated that he continued to ask her about the alcohol and she refused him and she finally ended the call because she was at a friend's house with a group of many other friends. Money did state that her friend was with her when she was talking to John Doe and would have heard what Money was saying during the conversation. Money then provided the detective with the friend's phone number. The detective then advised Medy that they had also obtained cell tower coordinates for the towers that her cell phone was using and told her that on the nights in question where John Doe alleged to have sex with her, that it was pinging around the same areas. Money stated after learning this information, she could not explain it, So the interview wraps up. You know, she's obviously completely denying everything.

32:49 And the next day the detective he reaches out to her friend, so he interviews that friend over the phone regarding that phone conversation, and that friend said she recalled being at a gathering with Miss Mooney when Money received a phone call from John Doe on her cell phone. She said that when Money received that call, she immediately said to her friend, it's that fucking kid from school that keeps bothering me. The friend said that Money told her that John Doe was asking her to buy him alcohol, to which Mooney continued to reply no and told John Doe to stop bothering her. The friend said that Money was not caring on a conversation with John Doe that would suggest any sort of relationship, and Money never said anything about being used by John Doe for a's alcohol, sex, or anything else. As a matter of fact, the friend stated that Mooney told John Doe that he was annoying her at one point, and Mooney also told John Doe to delete her number. So the detective he then goes to speak with the physics teacher, Jack Tracy that Miss Mooney mentioned brought up the initial incident, and that interview was conducted at the high school and Tracy stated that during the middle of the month of December of twenty fourteen, he was informed by a student assistant of the class that she heard rumors that Money gave alcohol and sex

34:21 to a student. So those rumors concerned him. He contacted another teacher by the name of Grant Cox, who was kind of a teaching mentor to Mooney, and he said, hey, man, you need to go talk to miss Mooney about these rumors that we're hearing Tracy said that Mooney then came to Tracy in her classroom and she had tears in her eyes. She was visibly upset, and Tracy asked Mooney if the rumors were true, and she replied, of course not. Tracy stated he then asked Mooney if she had been in contact with John Doe outside of school, and she said no. However, she did say that John Doe and other students did get her cell number. Tracy said he could not recall the means that Mooney described on how John Doe would get her cell number, but he stated that he saw the principal past the classroom, so he called the principle into the classroom and he kind of made him aware of the issue. So they go talk to several teachers about these rumors, and all the teachers they're coroborating more or less miss Mooney's story. But there were a lot of concerning things, I mean, how was she pinging in the same area as John Doe and all these phone calls that they're able to dig up and things of that nature. But nonetheless, that arrest warrant is put through for Kayle Mooney and signed. So Kaylen Mooney she gets arrested, she bails out and eventually after

35:55 a continuance, which a continuance, y'all, is kind of a delay in the trial. The defense according to them, they were getting evidence very late in the ballgame from the prosecution as it relates to discovery, and I'm going to get into something that the prosecution discovered a little later on that's very key. So they get that continuance, and then finally in late June of twenty sixteen, the trial did start for Caleb Mooney and one of the first things that is brought up in this trial was school officials having a non certified teacher in the classroom. Kim Thompson, who was the human resource director for the school board, she claimed that Kayla was hired conditionally for that first year and that she had never turned her certification in it was still pending, and she even noted that it was fairly common to hire teachers while awaiting their certification, but that they are only allowed to stay in a position for no longer than forty days if their certification is not received. And the reason she did that is because if you're like me, you're probably wondering, what does that have to do with anything. Well, it really is an attempt for the school board to kind of absolve responsibility.

37:21 They're trying to say, hey, she wasn't technically a certified teacher, even though she was hired as a teacher. They're trying to kind of push some of that responsibility away to try to keep a lawsuit out of their hands. Right, don't make a whole lot of sense to me. But they made a big deal out of it in the trial, And as you would expect, at some point that student who made the allegations testified and the defense got up and they brought up some interesting information with regard to motive as to why this state it may be lying. And I'm going to reference an article from the local paper in that town, and here's how it read. An attorney for a former high school teacher, Calen Mooney, suggested Thursday that a former student was trying to pressure her for money and better grades when he said they had a sexual relationship. Mooney, who was charged with three counts of second degree assault, has been denying having sex with a student, although she does concede she made a mistake when befriending him. The student who is the first witness in Mooney's trial, admitted during cross examination that he told police he wanted to see how far this can go.

38:37 I wanted to see how many hundreds I could get. He also admitted to asking a teacher's assistant to alter his grades after rumors began spreading he was having a sexual relationship with Mooney, who had begun to distance herself from him and tried to have him removed from her class. When did you think you could get some money out of this, defense attorney William west Got asked. The youth said he had become angry because he felt Mooney isolated him. Because he could not talk about the relationship with Mooney, He said the friends he did tell about the affair said he should sue her. State's attorney Steven Sandusky argue Wescott's line of questioning about prior sexual conversations between teacher in Stendent should open the door to more introduction of evidence of a text message. And I'm gonna stop right here, and I'm gonna explain to you there was a text message that they were able to extract later on, way later on, right before the trial, and in that text that Mooney sent to John Doe, she said no, thanks, I don't think we're allowed to hang out without my pants on. Allegedly, she ended the text in the same exchange by saying, it's not like we're going to have sex or anything. So take from that what you want, but that's definitely inappropriate to be sending to you student.

40:00 That occurred the night of the concert on November one of twenty fourteen. Now, while the judge Kevin Russo need the language was certainly improper for a teacher to use with a student, he rejected Sandusky's argument for admitting the text in evidence very important. So there was a text that was of a sexual nature, but it was ruled inadmissible by the judge. In the defense, what are they trying to do? They're trying to poke holes in this student and show that he is not credible. So eventually this trial ends and the state rust its case in that statutory rape trial. And here's just a short little peace that covered the state rusting its case, and it says the state rusted its case against former high school teacher Cale Mooney Thursday in Superior Court after failing in its bid to enter a potentially key piece of evidence talking about that text. Despite several attempts throughout the trial by the state attorney Steven Sandusky, having the text message admitted, it was denied. While Sandusky had attempted yet again to get the text message entered into evidence Thursday, just before the state rest Judge Kevin Russo ruled it would be unduly prejudicial to the jury. The student, Russo noted, responded in a humorous manner to the statement by responding lmfao,

41:36 showing that he didn't take the comment seriously. Russo added that when questioned during his testimony earlier in the trial about the circumstances in which that statement were made, the student responded, honestly, I don't know. The trial is expected to resume Friday. And finally, after all that, we get a verdict. And it was short and sweet when it was covered in the local paper, and it says CALEA. Money, the former Danbury High School teacher charged with having sex with a student, was acquitted of all charges. A seven member jury deliberated for nearly two hours and delivered their verdict shortly before three pm. After the verdict was read, Money, who had been charged with three counts of sexual assault in the second degree in one count of providing alcohol to a minor, cried and hugged family members and supporters seated in the gallery behind her. Money declined to comment on her acquittal, but her attorney, William Westcott, said it was clear the jury made the correct decision. I've been representing Calea Mooney for eighteen months now. She told me before she was even arrested that there was nothing to these charges. She's maintained her innocence throughout, so we're happy with her and her family. In closing arguments, Westcott said Many's accuser, a male student, was not a credible witness.

43:08 So there you have it. I told you it was going to have a shocking twist at the end, and a couple of reasons I wanted to do this particular episode. Number one, I want you to form your own opinion of guilt or innocence here. Now. She was acquitted, which means she was found not guilty of the charges, and that means there wasn't enough evidence there. The student was not found credible. Doesn't necessarily mean she didn't do it. Doesn't mean she did do it. It just means the evidence wasn't there. In the state they tried to get those text messages included, and you got to ask yourself, if those text messages were included, would it have changed the jury's mind. My personal feeling on this, I think she's innocent.

43:58 I just don't see anything here. And this kid was recording her secretly, and not one mention of them ever doing anything that was inappropriate was said. I find that strange if that stuff really occurred, But who knows, what's your thoughts. Just because you're accused of something doesn't necessarily always mean you did it. Did she do some shady shit just communicating with this student out of class? You better believe it a lot of things she did wrong. Did she actually have sex with a student? I'm not say sure about that, and that's why it's important to never rush to judgment. So give us a follow on Facebook and give me your opinion. I want to thank all of you for listening, and look, I know a lot of you are members of a lot of true crime groups out there and scandal groups on Facebook, and y'all taught me up on there a lot, and I get a lot of screenshots from y'all with people just check sattering about exposed scandalous files of the Elite. I want to thank all of you so much. I can't tell you how much that helps. There is just a ton of work I put into this podcast, and it feels really good to know that y'all appreciate it and are getting something out of it and finding it entertaining.

45:21 So thank you so much, and until next time. For exposed scandalous files of the Elite, I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love,