Feb. 25, 2025

"Bad Teachers" Episode Ten: Mary McCormick, Ashley Burkett, April Watson

"Bad Teachers" Episode Ten: Mary McCormick, Ashley Burkett, April Watson

In this episode of Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite, Jim discusses the case of Mary Faith McCormick, a 6th grade teacher from Arkansas, who engaged in inappropriate exchanges with a 13-year-old student. Jim reveals how grooming tactics led to...

In this episode of Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite, Jim discusses the case of Mary Faith McCormick, a 6th grade teacher from Arkansas, who engaged in inappropriate exchanges with a 13-year-old student. Jim reveals how grooming tactics led to explicit encounters, resulting in her arrest for rape after incriminating evidence emerged. Jim also discusses a case involving two Florida teachers, convicted of sexual relationships with (3) 17 year old high school students.

#badteachers #exposed #podcast #scandals #marymccormick #ashleyburkett #aprilwatson #florida

Timestamps
01:49 The Case of Mary Faith McCormick
15:49 Sentencing and Aftermath
21:03 New Case: Ashley Burkett and April Watson
30:39 Closing Thoughts on Teacher Misconduct

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WEBVTT

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of

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the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and we

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are back with another episode in the Bad Teachers series.

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Before we get into today's episode, I need to shout

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out the newest Global Celebrity member, Miss Stacy Hazelton, from Niles, Michigan.

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Really cool history, y'all with Niles. It became a city

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over three hundred years ago and Niles is actually known

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as the City of four Flags. And there's a reason

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for this. It has a real lengthy history in over

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those three hundred years, the flags that have flown over

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the city of Niles include the French, the British, the

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Native American flag, and finally the US flag in eighteen

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thirty two. So once again, thank you so much, Miss

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Stacy Hazelton for joining us on the Global Celebrity Patreon tier.

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If you want to see what all the fuss is about,

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go to Patreon at patreon dot com slash Exposed to

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episodes to bonus episodes to files upload tons of those,

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Just tons of things you can get out there bonus episodes,

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so check it out. And I appreciate each and every

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one of these Patreon supporters. They're the reason this show

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even exists. And we'll get into today's episode, and this

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time I am bringing you to the great state of

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Arkansas and Saloam Springs, Arkansas specifically to tell you about

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the case of Mary Faith McCormick, who was a thirty

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two year old six grade social studies teacher at Saloam

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Springs Intermediate School. So we're going to jump right into it.

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And on August eighth of twenty fourteen, the Salom Springs

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Police Department, they get a call from the parents of

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a twelve year old female and these parents stated that

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their daughter had barred the phone of one of her

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friends at school and she saw some inappropriate messages between

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McCormick and a thirteen year old male. So police they

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go interview this girl and she has quite the story

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to tell. Now. According to the twelve year old, she

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wanted to send kind of a silly picture of herself

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through Snapchat from that thirteen year old boy's phone. So

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she opens the Snapchat application and she notices a social

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studies teacher at that school, who was Mary Faith McCormick,

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had snapped the thirteen year old boy who owned the phone, So,

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like curious kids are, she clicked on the snap and

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there is a picture of Mary Faith McCormick in a

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bathroom smiling with her cleavage pushed up, kind of like

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Dolly Parton style. Right now, at this point, the twelve

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year old is like, whoa. She then snaps the teacher

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back and she says, quote, why would you send that,

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to which McCormick responds, why don't you like it? Now, Remember,

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McCormick thinks this is the thirteen year old boy snapping

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her back. McCormick then responds with quote, I want to

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climb on top of U your dick unquote. So the

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twelve year old looks through the snap messages further and

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she discovers one picture of McCormick with wet hair while

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showing her breast, and then a text accompanying that that

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said quote, I'm not dirty anymore unquote. This is a

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thirty two year old teacher talking to a thirteen year

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old boy. So this twelve year old girl she goes

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home and she tells her parents and here we are,

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So the first thing police want to do is they

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want to speak with this thirteen year old kid. They

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go pay him a visit, and according to the affidavit,

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the kid that is referred to in that Affidavid as BB,

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says that two weeks into the summer, he and his

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friend were talking about how hot Miss McCormick was, and

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BB was telling his friend, who was also thirteen, that

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he thought felt like miss McCormick was quote into him.

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So his friend he dares him to try and hook

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up with Miss McCormick. So Bbe starts snapping with Miss

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McCormick and they snap back and forth over several weeks,

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and she's definitely playing into it. Although the affidavit doesn't

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get real specific into what exactly she was saying to

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this thirteen year old, it does say that right off

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the bat, the teacher was letting the thirteen year old

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into her life verbally by quote sharing very personal information.

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And that could be anything from you know, her talking

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about her marriage, maybe she was having a bad marriage

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and incidentally she was married with a daughter, or it

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could have been even more personal than that doesn't really say,

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but regardless, that's what you would definitely call the grooming stage.

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When you hear me talk about the grooming stages is

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a perfect example. She is wanting to see how he's

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going to respond to her taking things from a teacher

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student level to a more personal level, if he freaked out,

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because somewhere in that text conversation she says, you know,

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I'm having problems in my marriage, and he's like, I

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don't want to hear about all that. Well, she knows

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to back off, but if he continues to play into it,

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that's grooming. That's what she's trying to do. Then it

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gets even more egregious when the student tells police. He

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asks for a picture of her vagina, which she sends

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to him, and then she requests a picture of his

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quote rock Hard Penis, which he sends to her. So

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BB continues on and he tells the police about five

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weeks prior to when the officer shows up at his

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house to interview him, BB had spent the night at

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a friend's house and they decided to walk by Miss

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McCormick's house, and when they did, she was standing outside

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and he said she invited them in to watch a movie,

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and he said he agreed, but his friend declined and

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went home. Now it's important to mention that later on

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the thirteen year old actually recanted that story as it

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relates to the involvement of his friend, and he actually

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said McCormick picked him up and drove him to her apartment.

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I think initially when he was talking to police, he

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was a little bit scared and it was easier to

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involve another friend than when you're thirteen. You don't realize

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the implications of involving other people in your ship, right.

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So regardless, he goes inside of her house and he

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said they started kidding around on the living room couch,

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then they started kissing, and then he said they went

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into McCormick's bedroom, where he said he sat on the

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bed and McCormick climbed on top of him and they

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started having acts. The policeman taking the report also noted that,

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in an effort to prove this kid had actually been

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into McCormick's bedroom, he asked the kid to describe it.

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Tell them what it looked like, what did the furniture

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look like, the wall color, where was the furniture placed,

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what color sheets were on the bed, those sorts of things,

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and this kid was able to describe it to a

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t According to that officer, the student even mentioned that

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McCormick brought him downstairs after the sacks and that she

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showed him a video of Kevin Hart on her phone.

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And later in the investigation, the police did indeed discover

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that video of Kevin Hart on McCormick's phone, which proved

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this kid was telling the truth, otherwise he would have

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no idea what videos that she had on her phone. Now,

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in addition to all of that, the student allowed police

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into his phone, where they found some pictures of the

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teachers exposed breast as well as a bunch of suggestive messages.

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So with all this evidence police they get a warrant

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to seize McCormick's digital devices. Even before they spoke to her,

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they already had all this evidence, and that warrant included

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an iPad, to cell phones, to jump drives, and a laptop.

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And they head over to her apartment to number one

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interview her, and number two sees that electronic equipment, so

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they go over there they start interviewing her, and of course,

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according to McCormick, this kid's totally full of shit and

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was mad at her for what she said were quote

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unknown reasons, and it's important to note that this time

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she did not know about all this other evidence they had.

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So police sees the electronic equipment and they access McCormick's

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snapchat account and they find multiple photographs and videos of

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the victim, along with the photograph of a woman's breast

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believed to have belonged to McCormick. So they arrest McCormick

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on a charge of rape, and this is in August

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of twenty fourteen. She promptly posts a fifty thousand dollars

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bond later on the same day, and as you would imagine,

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this is not a big city. Salom Springs, Arkansas is

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on the smaller side, and people were shocked, absolutely shocked

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to hear about this. It was also discovered that in

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addition to the sexual encounter that took place at her apartment,

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there was an additional sexual encounter that took place with

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this thirteen year old where McCormick actually picked the student

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up and brought him to a location where she was

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building a new house. And that will the premise, let's

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go see my new house I'm building now. According to

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the affidavit which I am quoting here, The affidavit says, quote,

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the student told the officer that they started kissing, and

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she gave him a blowjob. And then it says which

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the student described as quote sucking his dick, exactly what

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it says in the affidavit. And another thing that is

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worth noting her father was also a teacher in the

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same school district, not at the same school, but the

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same district. Now, how embarrassing was this for her poor father,

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who probably knew every teacher in the district. I'm sure

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probably taught forever. I mean, you just can't imagine the

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embarrassment not only your husband and your daughter if she's

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old enough at that time to understand, but your father.

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So time passes, and initially McCormick was going to go

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to trial. She was going to fight this thing because

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she was innocent, right. However, once she discovered all this

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evidence that the police had. They didn't just have the

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statement from this kid. They had pictures, they had videos,

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they had text all these things she thought she had deleted.

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She ends up doing what they all do. She got

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the pleate and on July thirteenth of twenty fifteen, Mary

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Faith McCormick, who at this time is thirty three. She

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pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the first degree, which

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is a Class A felony, and in Arkansas that was

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punishable with a prison sentence ranging from six to thirty years. Now,

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prosecutors agreed to reduce the charge from rape to sexual

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assault as part of that plea agreement. McCormick told the

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judge that she had not been coerced into accepting that

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plea offer, and she also understood that she was waiving

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her rights to a jury trial and an appeal. The

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judge accepted that plea agreement as well as her guilty plea,

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and there were three conditions that McCormick had to abide

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by until her sentencing. One she must show up for

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her sentencing. Two she can't commit any other criminal acts,

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and three she could not have any contact with the victim.

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And the judge warned McCormick that if she violated any

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of the three conditions, it could avoid the plea agreement

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altogether and the guilty plea would still stand and then

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she would be sentenced, likely to the maximum by the judge.

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So on July thirtieth of twenty fifteen, Mary McCormick appeared

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in court for her sentencing, and the court read a

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statement from the boy's mother. These are victim impact statements.

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According to that statement, it read, there are no words

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fitting to describe the pain and sorrow my whole family

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has suffered this past year. We as a family have

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barely weathered through this storm. Although we see small bits

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of light at the end of this storm, our hearts

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are broken and our spirits are weary. The family had

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to close its business and move to another town because

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of the harassment and negativity. McCormick's crime brought and the

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court said the mother felt like she was responsible for

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leaving the gate open for quote the wolf to attack

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her young, innocent sheep. The mother said, I have sent

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my child into the public school system forever six years,

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not ever believing or thinking that one day his very

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own teacher, of whom we should trust, would be the

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wolf that would prey upon him. My son was a

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four point zero student, an amazing athlete, but was robbed

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of his childhood. And that was the mother statement. So

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the sentencing occurs and McCormick is sentenced to eight years

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in the Arkansas Department of Corrections and according to her sentencing,

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she would have to serve at least two years before

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she would be eligible for parole. She must abide by

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a suspended sentence agreement for twelve years after her release

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from present, and she would be required to register as

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a sex offender when she is released. She must also

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complete the prison sex Offender Treatment program after her release

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from prison, and McCormick was ordered not to have any

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contact with that team or any witnesses in the case.

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She was also ordered to not have any unsupervised contact

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with any minors except her biological children. So I say

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all that to say that you talk about an easy

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sentence in my opinion, she squerews this thirteen year old

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thirteen years old twice and is eligible for parole in

230
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two years. WTF as expected. Two years later, she indeed

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goes up for a parole hearing. This was on January

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twelfth of twenty seventeen, but surprisingly considering my experience covering

233
00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:33.679
these cases, it was denied. Then in January of twenty nineteen,

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00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:37.080
she's up for parole again. Now this is less than

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00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:41.000
four years after the incident, and she pens this letter

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to the court, which I have the actual letter in

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00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:46.559
her hand, running in front of me, and it says

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00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:49.960
I'm writing to see if you would run my court

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fees and finds cocurrent to the time I observed, I

240
00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:58.000
was locked up in Benton County from July thirty until

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00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:01.440
August twenty eighth, twenty fifteen. I have been at McPherson

242
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:04.839
unit from August twenty fifteen to the current time. Since

243
00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:08.039
I've been here, I've accomplished many things. I took a

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week long anger management course in October of twenty fifteen.

245
00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:17.240
In December of twenty fifteen, I took a Thinking Errors class.

246
00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.720
I participated in a two month course called Keys to

247
00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:25.920
Healthy Relationships for personal Enrichment. I eroned her certificate for

248
00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:30.480
this December twenty sixteen. I enrolled in a votech January

249
00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:34.720
of twenty sixteen, where I earned fifteen hundred hours in cosmetology.

250
00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.720
I graduated in May of twenty eighteen. I took and

251
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:42.160
passed the practical and rent exams to earn my state

252
00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:47.240
board license. I am now a certified cosmatologist. I've worked

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00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:51.079
in the beauty shop from May twenty eighteen to current

254
00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.359
and she means the prison beauty shop, where I've earned

255
00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:58.960
one thousand and nine internship hours. This is on the

256
00:17:59.079 --> 00:18:01.759
job training that has helped me prepare to do hair

257
00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:06.079
when I am released. I've also enrolled in SOFT. This

258
00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:09.160
is an intense group therapy that meets five days a

259
00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:13.119
week with a doctor to discover what red flag situations

260
00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.839
led to our crime, how to identify and deal with emotions,

261
00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:20.519
and give us many tools to cope with our past,

262
00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:24.039
present in future. I graduated from SOFT in March of

263
00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:28.599
twenty eighteen. Another personal enrichment course that lasted two months

264
00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:32.599
that I participated in was Codependent No More. I earned

265
00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:35.960
a certificate. This was in June of twenty eighteen. The

266
00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:39.559
final course I took was on Communication. This was one

267
00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:43.680
month course and I earned a certificate in October of

268
00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:48.279
twenty eighteen. I'm also currently enrolled in SRT, which stands

269
00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:54.880
for Social Responsibility Treatment. We are learning about how loyalty, trust, concerned, honesty,

270
00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:59.039
and responsibility will help us be productive members of society.

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00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:02.400
All courses I have taken have been taught by the

272
00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:05.480
mental health staff. As you can see, I have used

273
00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:08.640
my three and a half years of incarceration to better myself.

274
00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.240
I hope you will consider running my fines and fees

275
00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:14.440
concurrent with my time served due to all the positive

276
00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:17.720
things that I have done. This will give me relief

277
00:19:17.880 --> 00:19:21.400
of the sixteen hundred dollars of financial obligations so that

278
00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:26.960
I may establish my life without such a heavy financial burden.

279
00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:30.920
Thank you for your time, Mary Faith McCormick. So the

280
00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:34.839
parole board they take those letters and they review those

281
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:38.480
and look credit to her that she was making good

282
00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:42.279
use of her time behind bars. Another thing the parole

283
00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:47.440
board reviews is a transfer eligibility sheet, and it's kind

284
00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:50.960
of like a record of how you performed while you

285
00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.200
were incarcerated. Then just to go over hers, it less

286
00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:58.640
the charges of course sexual assault first degree by school personnel,

287
00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:01.680
and she had two arges of that that she was

288
00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:05.599
in prison for and it says programming while incarcerated, and

289
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:08.279
I just went over those with you, but they're also

290
00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:13.119
listed on this form. Then it's this major disciplinaries. So

291
00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.039
she acted up a little bit early on in prison.

292
00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:20.119
In three fourteen of twenty seventeen, it said that she

293
00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:24.200
got wrote up for refusal to participate in a treatment

294
00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:30.720
program and her discipline for that was a commonsary restriction

295
00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:35.079
for fifteen days. She had a phone restriction for fifteen

296
00:20:35.160 --> 00:20:40.000
days and visitation restriction for fifteen days. And that was

297
00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:44.119
really the only write up she had. And they also

298
00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:48.319
wrote the judge and asked the Circreit Court judge his thoughts,

299
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:51.519
and it said, this court has no objection to transfer

300
00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:55.960
eligibility for Mary McCormick due to the rehab program she

301
00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:59.880
is completed while in the prison system. So they take

302
00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:04.000
all that information and they make a decision. You guessed it.

303
00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:11.079
In January of twenty nineteen, she gets released from prison

304
00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:18.319
after serving less than four years of that eight year sentence.

305
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:22.440
All right, so I'm going to tell you another bad

306
00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:26.839
teacher story today. It's a multiple edition of bad teachers.

307
00:21:26.920 --> 00:21:31.599
And every now and then I run into cases involving

308
00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:35.920
actually multiple teachers with students at the same school, and

309
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:40.720
occasionally they're even involved with students together or they team

310
00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:43.559
up to sleep with students. And I'm going to tell

311
00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:48.559
you about the case of Ashley Burkett. In April Watson

312
00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:54.240
and they taught at Jay High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida.

313
00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:58.240
So Ashley Burkett, she was a thirty two year old.

314
00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:03.160
She taught reading in space education students at Jay High School.

315
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:07.119
April Watson taught at the same school. She was thirty

316
00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:10.279
three years old, and she taught math and was also

317
00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:13.880
the JV cheerleading coach. And both of these ladies had

318
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:19.680
two children themselves. So in July of two thousand and nine,

319
00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:25.319
an investigation began after an anonymous letter sent to the

320
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:30.559
Santa Rosa County School District alleged a sexual relationship between

321
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:35.200
the two teachers and three then seventeen year old boys.

322
00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:39.279
Now the males were not direct students of the teachers,

323
00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:43.160
but they did attend Jay High School, and of course

324
00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:46.599
school officials they get this letter and they send it

325
00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:50.480
directly to the Santa Rosa Sheriff's office and they say,

326
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:55.200
we need this investigated, and an investigation into the incident

327
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:58.799
then started. So the first thing the police do, they

328
00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:02.039
interview the seven teen year olds, and the seventeen year

329
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:05.920
olds told investigators that they had sex with the teachers

330
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:10.759
between July and October of two thousand and seven, which

331
00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:16.079
was a couple of years before this was reported. So

332
00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:19.799
at the time that these students were interviewed, they were

333
00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:23.279
nineteen almost twenty years old. Now, two of the boys

334
00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:26.839
said they had sex with April Watson at her house.

335
00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.720
And they also said that they had sex with April

336
00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:36.440
Watson at Ashley Burkett's house. So Watson was sleeping with

337
00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:39.920
two of these students. The third student said he had

338
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:43.680
sex with Burkett at both her house and at Ashley

339
00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:47.440
Watson's house. Now, it didn't specify if the sex took

340
00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:50.440
place at the same time at each one of these

341
00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:54.440
ladies' houses. For whatever reason, it didn't specify that, So

342
00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:58.039
I'll leave that up to you to wonder. But certainly

343
00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:03.640
these two teachers were very close friends when they're having

344
00:24:03.640 --> 00:24:06.599
sex at each other's house with students. Right now, it's

345
00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:09.960
important to note that the age of consent in Florida

346
00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:13.680
is eighteen years old, with the only exception to that

347
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:17.640
being if the sexual relationship falls under what is known

348
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:20.680
as the Romeo and Juliet Law in Florida. And let

349
00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:23.039
me tell you what that is. That's a statue that

350
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:29.000
protects teenagers from harsh penalties for consensual sexual relationships with

351
00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:33.279
other teenagers. The law applies when the age gap between

352
00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:36.400
the two people is no more than four years and

353
00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:40.039
the younger person is at least fourteen years old. So

354
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:43.200
if you're a senior in high school, you just turned eighteen.

355
00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:46.920
Your girlfriend is a freshman and she's fourteen. You can

356
00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:50.359
get in some trouble, but you don't have to register

357
00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:52.319
as a sex offender for the rest of your life

358
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:57.279
for example. So moving on. On August sixth of two

359
00:24:57.319 --> 00:25:01.720
thousand and nine, Burquette and Watson both charged with having

360
00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:06.000
sex with underage students in two thousand and seven, and

361
00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:09.880
they turned themselves in to authorities. Now, of course, police

362
00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.119
interview them and during that interview they did both admit

363
00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:18.759
to the sexual activity and they were both subsequently arrested.

364
00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:22.960
Ashley Burkette was arrested in charge with three counts of

365
00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:27.359
sexual assault with victims sixteen to seventeen years old. Apral

366
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:31.680
Watson also arrested same thing, three counts of sexual assault

367
00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:35.559
with victims sixteen to seventeen years old. And it shocked

368
00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:38.799
even some students at the school when this came out.

369
00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:41.119
As a matter of fact, one was interviewed. His name

370
00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:44.200
was Max Nesati and he was eighteen who was a

371
00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:47.759
recent graduate of Jay High School, and he said the

372
00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:51.599
two young blonde teachers were friends. He said they both

373
00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:55.279
helped with cheerleading teams and he even said he recalled

374
00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:59.240
seeing them jogging together after school. He went on to say,

375
00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:03.119
miss Watson and she was young and attractive. In Miss Burkette,

376
00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.640
she was also pretty attractive. Quote. I mean, they were

377
00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:09.400
like friendly with the students. But I would have never

378
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:13.359
imagined anything like this, So unlike some of the other

379
00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:17.000
cases that we covered, this was not out there amongst

380
00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:20.799
the students. Now, Burkett and Watson, they were doing court

381
00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:24.759
in early December of two thousand and nine, but requests

382
00:26:24.759 --> 00:26:28.559
for continuances and things like that were approved by the judge.

383
00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:30.880
This is common in these types of cases, and of

384
00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:35.599
course that delayed their next court appearance until late January

385
00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:39.920
twenty ten. Now, initially, during their arraignment they both pleaded

386
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:43.680
not guilty and they got out on bail right pending

387
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:48.440
that trial. So on January of twenty ten, Burkett and

388
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:52.279
Watson they do a reversal and they plead no contest

389
00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:56.920
to three counts of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors.

390
00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:01.880
After yet another plea deal in these bad teacher cases

391
00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:05.640
that I cover. So the sentencing gets scheduled for April

392
00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:09.799
fourteenth of twenty ten, and at that time, the state attorney,

393
00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:12.599
his name was Bill Eddens. He said under the Florida

394
00:27:12.680 --> 00:27:17.880
Senenson guidelines. The lowest permissible sentence for these ladies is

395
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:21.880
thirty three months, so a little over two years. And

396
00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:26.279
then finally they get to the sentencing stage, and this

397
00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.279
was on April sixteenth of twenty ten, and we're both

398
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:35.920
sentenced to fifteen months in state prison and five years probation,

399
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:40.759
which included eighteen months of community service. And there was

400
00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:44.839
a stipulation saying the teachers will be required to register

401
00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:50.160
as sex offenders upon release. Now, after the sentencing, several

402
00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:54.319
people involved in this case, they spoke out. Assistant District

403
00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:58.799
Attorney Christy Hankins mentioned asking the judge to order that

404
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.839
the teachers spent and at least five years in prison.

405
00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:06.799
Hankins said, the idea that they were teachers was absolutely revolting.

406
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:09.480
And this is two thousand and nine. It was out there,

407
00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:11.640
but not out there like it is today. I mean,

408
00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.119
today you can't pick up a paper. It's so sad,

409
00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:16.279
and it's why I do this podcast. You can't pick

410
00:28:16.359 --> 00:28:20.559
up shit without seeing these teachers screwing all these students.

411
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:23.920
But back then it wasn't as talked about. Hankin said,

412
00:28:23.960 --> 00:28:27.599
it's the adult's responsibility to make the right decision, not

413
00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:30.599
the seventeen year old boys. Let's be clear, there was

414
00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:35.279
no remorse until they were caught. Hankins also addressed what

415
00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:38.839
she said was a gender disparity when it comes to

416
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:43.119
cases in which adults are accused of having sex with children. Quote,

417
00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:45.720
if this was a twenty nine and thirty year old

418
00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:49.720
male teacher who had sex with a female student, it

419
00:28:49.799 --> 00:28:54.319
would be an uproar and an outrage and everybody would

420
00:28:54.359 --> 00:28:58.240
be out to get them. Period. And this is a

421
00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:02.559
female prosecute saying this, and it's so true. That's why

422
00:29:02.599 --> 00:29:06.920
I focus on the females so hard in these episodes.

423
00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:10.039
Certainly it's a problem on both sides, but there is

424
00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:13.599
a disparity there, and I hope that you're realizing that

425
00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:16.599
as we go along, if you didn't already, And it's

426
00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:19.839
why it's so important to share these episodes. The defense

427
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:23.720
attorneys in this case, for both ladies, they also spoke

428
00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:25.920
out and they said the boys in the case said

429
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:30.319
during depositions that they didn't think their teachers should spend

430
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:33.119
time in prison. One of the attorneys said, I don't

431
00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:35.519
think they should go to jail because it's one hundred

432
00:29:35.559 --> 00:29:40.279
percent voluntary on both sides, what the hell. Both attorneys

433
00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:43.759
called for a reduced sentence that included no jail time,

434
00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.160
and Watson's attorney said everyone is subject to human frailty.

435
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.160
She made a very serious mistake that will follow her

436
00:29:51.240 --> 00:29:54.279
the rest of her life. ILL agree with that. He

437
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:57.799
went on to say, the former teachers were immediately remorseful

438
00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:00.599
with investigators, which proved to be in the their favor.

439
00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:06.000
Also in their favor were that the teens were willing participants.

440
00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:09.119
So these two bad teachers I just told you about,

441
00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:13.039
they did indeed serve fifteen months, and on May ninth

442
00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:18.440
of two thy eleven, they were both released, and they

443
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:21.920
had some stipulations. One of them they'll forever be on

444
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:27.559
the sex offender registry. And after five years of post incarceration,

445
00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:31.839
this was in twenty sixteen, they both completed probation and

446
00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:36.119
they were released off of their probation. However, neither will

447
00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:40.960
ever be allowed in the teaching profession again. So one

448
00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:44.720
of those cases, y'all where these teachers were actually in

449
00:30:44.759 --> 00:30:49.119
cahoots together sleeping with these students at each other's houses,

450
00:30:49.480 --> 00:31:05.519
totally bizarre, and that is a rap for this episode

451
00:31:05.720 --> 00:31:10.160
of Bad Teachers. Thank you again, to all my Patreon supporters.

452
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:13.759
What don't exists without you, none of this that we do.

453
00:31:13.799 --> 00:31:19.160
You make this show roll, and until next time for

454
00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:24.519
exposed scandalous files of the elite, I'm your host, Jim Chapman.

455
00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:25.839
Much love,