Bad Teachers: Heather Robertson & Stephanie Peterson

0:00 Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite. I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and we're back with a double episode of Bad Teachers. And today this episode is going to be a little bit different and you'll figure out why as we get into it. But I'm going to take you to Lufkin, Texas, and I'll tell you about a now former special needs kindergarten teacher by the name of Heather Robertson. And we're going to go to April. Twenty second of twenty seventeen and a Lufkin police officer arrests this teacher on warrants of having an inappropriate relationship between an educator and a student. Heather Robertson was actually pulled over in her vehicle and that warrant was served right there on the street, so she goes to jail.

0:55 Now. According to the arrest warrant, police received information that Robertson had possibly been sexually involved with several high school students, and after obtaining a list of students who were possibly sexually involved with Robertson, police began to question those students. Now, one of the students told police that he and Robertson began chatting and sexting Quote on Snapchat shortly after spring break. At some point, Robertson reportedly asked him to come over to her apartment to have sex. The boy then told Robertson that a friend was with him, and he asked if it was okay if his friend went with him to her house, and she said.

1:42 Oh, that's fine. The boys then said when they arrived at the apartment, Robertson was lying on the couch vaping, So after speaking with the boys for a few minutes, Robertson told them to follow her into her bedroom, where she began to take off her clothes for having sex with both students at the same time. The boys then told police that there were two other students who possibly had been sexually involved with Robertson. So police then spoke with those two other students and they coroborated everything the original students had said.

2:22 They also said they had sex with her at her apartment on multiple occasions. One of the boys told police he would sneak out of his house and Robinson would pick him up and take him to her apartment. He said he and Robertson Quote somehow became friends on Snapchat, and that at some point she sent him a message asking if he and another student would like to hang out. He said Robertson picked him up and his friend. It was late at night, she took them over to her apartment, and she had sex with them. He also told police he had sex with Robertson on two or three other occasions. The boys friend told police he had sex with Robertson twice, but he could not remember the exact dates. So four students in total came forward. And it's important to mention she was an elementary school teacher, but the students didn't go to school where she taught. They were high school students.

3:17 It didn't make it much better, but I didn't want anyone to assume these were kindergarteners. And it's especially important to note that in Texas they have a law where if you're a teacher, you can't just randomly have sex with students, even if they're not your own students, even if they're eighteen, if they're in high school and they're students, there's laws against that in Texas. And I don't know if I've told her age yet, but Heather Robertson at this point is thirty eight years old. So once police get all this information about her, they interview Robertson after they served that warrant and arrested her in her car, and she admitted to picking the boys up. She admitted to taking them to her apartment where they had sex, and she admitted that one particular student she had sex with on four occasions. She said the first sexual encounter occurred in late twenty sixteen. Now keep in mind this is twenty seventeen when she was arrested, so she says that particular student she had sex with just a few weeks before she was arrested. She also admitting to have sex with two students at the same time, so obviously the original two boys that reported this were telling the truth, but she said it was only one time that she was sexually involved with both boys at the same time, as if that makes it any better. She went on

4:48 to tell the police she did not require the boys to use a condom because quote she was no longer able to have children. She also stated she recently became a heavy drinker and would sometimes forget the details of the sexual encounters. She also said she had instructed the boys not to tell anyone because she would quote get in trouble. So obviously, twenty seventeen is a bad freaking year for Robinson, but it was bad before this arrest took place in March of twenty seventeen, which was a month prior to her arrest for this sexual contact with students. She was arrested for DWI. Not a good year for her. Now, the school superintendent, mary An Whittaker said, quote, we acted immediately and began our investigation. We pursued the correct protocol we have to follow, and we accepted the resignation of the teacher. And y'all, Robinson wasn't a brand new teacher.

5:50 As a matter of fact, she had been a teacher for seventeen years prior to this arrest, and she was looking at up to twenty years in for messing with these four boys should she be found guilty. So a couple of weeks after her ar rest on May fourth of twenty seventeen, it just gets worse for Heather Robinson. Two additional charges of improper relationships between an educator and a student were filed, so that brought her charges at this point up to six sexual assaults in total. So in an Affidavid with those additional charges listed, a boy came forward and said he had sex with Robertson in her apartment the day before Thanksgiving, and he said afterwards Robertson drive him home. And the second Affidavid also alleged that Robertson had sex with another boy on numerous occasions in her vehicle and at her apartment. Now it's important to know when these and the other chargers came out.

6:54 Heather Robertson was still in jail. Her bail, which was originally set at at six hundred thousand dollars, she apparently could not pay. So on May seventeenth, she applies for a ball reduction through her attorney, and her attorney argued that the current bail amount was in his mind, excessive and beyond the financial means of Heather Robertson, and he stated that the bell amount violated Robertson's eighth and fourteenth Amendment rights for fair due process against cruel and unusual punishment. And I want to note here that Heather Robertson was arrested, but she wasn't indicted yet by a grand jury. And let me explain how that works. Sometimes prosecutors they're not sure if they have enough evidence on a case, so they will convene a grand jury before they even arrest somebody, and they'll present evidence. In these grand juries, they convene in secret, and they'll either give what's known as a true bill indictment or a no bill. A true bill indictment, there's enough evidence to proceed forward and that that grand jury found reasonable cause to find a person guilty. If it's a no bill, it's like a not guilty jury finding.

8:13 You can still arrust them, you can still take them to court, et cetera. But it's a good indication on if they'll be found guilty in a court of law. Now, in this case, I guess they felt confident with their evidence, so they didn't seek out the services of a grand jury prior to arresting her. But they did convene a grand jury, and that grand jury returned twenty one indictments against Heather Roberts. And this was on June twenty ninth of twenty seventeen. And I'm not going to go through all twenty one of these charges. They're all related to sex with these high school kids and I got to say one thing about Lufkin, Texas, and that's that the wills of justice turn pretty damn fast there. On September two, twenty eighth of twenty seventeen, as all these teachers pretty much do that, screw these students that I've covered in the past, when there's a ton of evidence against them, she cops a deal and she pleaded guilty to these charges. Now, as part of that agreement, the at this point, thirty nine year old Heather Lee Robertson, she would have to surrender, obviously her teaching certification, she would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life, and she ended up with ten years in state prison, which is no cake walk, right, but she was facing two hundred and forty years in prison if she would have been convicted on all accounts, And the district attorney was quoted as saying, teachers are trusted with our most valuable

9:46 and most precious asset every day, and when they destroy that trust, they will be held accountable for their betrayal. They will face significant punishment. And I gotta say they moved swiftly on this one, and that is significant a punishment compared to what we normally hear say, she goes to prison for that. And remember I told you she had already been arrested for DWI just the month prior to her arrest for these sex crimes. Well, on October thirteenth of twenty seventeen, she showed up for court on that DWI charge and she pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, and that tacked a little bit of time onto her sentence.

10:33 But essentially, Heather Robertson, She's going to spend ten years in jail. A pretty wild story, and I wanted to include it today because this is someone who actually got some significant time. So shout out to Lufkin, Texas, and I'm going to bring you another one today. I'm gonna actually take you to Daytona Beach, Florida. And y'all know Daytona Beach. It's known for a lot of things. Used to be a. Huge destination back in my and it has beautiful beaches, really big tourist spot. But in twenty eighteen it became famous for another reason, and that is a bad teacher by the name of Stephanie Peterson. And that's who I'm going to tell you about today.

11:17 And I can't tell this story. Without describing Stephanie because her looks play a huge key in the sentence that she received in my opinion, and I'll get into that. But beautiful girl, straight, long, dark hair, very in shape. And at the time of her arrest, this case went absolutely viral all over the social media, all over the internet because of how beautiful Stephanie Peterson is now. At the time she got arrested, she was twenty six years old. So we're going to go to February. Twenty eighth of twenty eighteen, and detectives get a call and they respond to the home of a fourteen year old still it. When detectives get there, his mother. She has quite the story to tell these detectives. And it's a little bit different than how some of these bad teachers get caught in the act. In this case, the student's mother she's looking for a tutor. A teacher reached out and said, hey, I can be a tutor for your son. And of course, while she's doing this, the son happens to be in the room and she's on the phone with the teacher and she jokingly said, according to the mother, that she told the lady as long as I don't have to worry about you molesting him. Now, that might seem like a weird comment to make, but in Florida during this timeframe, there were a lot of teachers getting caught with students and it was all over

12:48 the news in the state of Florida. This woman was, what she thought, making a joke about this. As soon as she says that, her son pipes up and says, anybody can molest you. And when she gets off the phone, she inquires about what he meant by that comment, and according to his mother, her son started crying and confesses to sex with his teacher, Stephanie Peterson, who, as I said, was twenty six years old and he's fourteen. So detective speak with this student and according to the student, and incidentally, when this was all occurring, he was in eighth grade.

13:29 He tells detectives that Peterson would send him nude photos on Snapchat. He said this went on for a little while, and then she started coming to his home late at night, around eleven PM on several occasions, and then she bring him back after having sex with him at around one or two am. So this kid was sneaking out of his house, and this teacher was facilitating it. Now, could you imagine finding out your son is not in his room late at night. What are you just going there to check on him? He's not there, You're freaking out. You call police, My son's missing, and the whole time he's with this twenty six year old. Teacher having sex.

14:11 What a nightmare. Now, his mother never actually caught him doing that, sneaking out, But think of how easily that could have happened, in the fear that would have created for that family with their sons just gone from his room. The victim went on to tell police that in addition to all of that, she also bought him marijuana and bowls for smoking that marijuana. And totally consistent with just about every case I cover, Peterson told him that he could not tell anyone about their relationship or they would both get in trouble. And that's important because number one, it takes away the entire defense that a person might try to use saying I didn't know what I was doing was wrong. And number two, it's a huge grooming technique that is used by almost anyone who takes advantage of children. They try to act like the child's going to be in trouble along with them, and that's how they keep them quiet. So if you have kids, have that conversation and tell them if anybody ever touches you inappropriately, you're not going to get in trouble, because, believe it or not, a lot of children buy that whole deal, hook line and sinker. So police hear this story and then they go to Peterson, they take her into custody, they interview her. After the interview, she is booked into jail with a twenty five thousand dollars bond and that's

15:43 where she sat until her bail hearing. And something really crazy happens as this bail hearing, and it never ceases to amaze me as to why this problem even exists, honestly, and that is at her bail, her attorney he wants to get her bail reduced, which that's what they do. I get that you're defending a client and that's in your client's best interests, but in almost all cases it seems like judges side with the accused rather than the victims. And minutes later, the judge reduces her bill in half from twenty five thousand dollars to twelve five hundred dollars after this science teacher is accused of having sex with this fourteen year old multiple times. And this fourteen year old was in middle school. And it leaves no doubt as to why these teacher student relationships are such a fucking problem these days. And it was at that Baill hearing that her attorney argued that she posted no danger to society, She was not a flight risk and that should you know, basically, boom and basically that's why she should have this bail reduction, et cetera. And while all that may be true, I mean, there should be some sort of ramification for molesting kids, don't you think now.

17:07 In one of the articles that I read while researching this case, I want to just quote one paragraph to you that I find interesting. It said during the first appearance that she had in court, she was dressed in an orange jumpsuit. She looked pale in her appearance, aside from her long, dark blue painted fingernails, were significantly different from the photographs of her that were widely viewed once news stories of her arrest were posted on the web. Those viral images were taken from her Facebook page, which was removed from public view shortly after. And why I bring that up is it indicates that she was embarrassed and shamed for all of this, and I say good for her. I'm glad she fell ashamed. She should have felt ashamed. But I'll share some of those pictures with the Patroon celebrity members on Patroon, so look for those.

18:05 And some more information came out at that Baill hearing. Sheriff's deputies mentioned that some of the encounters that they had took place at her house while her husband was at work. Her husband was a firefighter. Some of the sex took place in a barn behind his parents' home, and some of the sex took place in the teen's parents' driveway. Could you imagine you're looking for your son, you open the front door and he's in a car having sex with his teacher. Crazy And it should come as no surprise that her husband filed for divorce, you know, right after she gets bond for all this. Detectives also said they obtained provocative photos of Peterson which had been sent to the teen, and her attorney argued that her mission her statements that she admitted to police when they interviewed her, that those statements were obtained illegally, which I can only surmise that he's accusing police of not riding her her miranda rights, which is likely bullshit. But all that being said, she did get bail in the amount of twelve five hundred dollars. You only put up ten percent of that, so she put up like twelve hundred bucks.

19:16 She gets out of jail for having sex with this kid. Ridiculous, And the sheriff was quoted as saying, I think it's a good place for her, meaning jail. You play them with drugs, and you're in a position of power, and you tell them, don't tell anybody because we're gonna get in trouble. I'm going to make you the teacher's aid, and all of these sort of things she was telling this kid. Basically, the childhood was stolen from this young man. And it was on April twelfth of twenty eighteen that she actually gets formally charged. And in those formal charges, they included two counts of lewde and lavicious battery sex with a victim twelve or older but less than sixteen, and each of those are a second degree felony punished by up to fifteen years in prison, and she was also charged with transmission of material harmful to minors by electronic device. That's a third degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

20:14 Now. Count one accused Peterson of unlawfully having sexual intercourse with the teenager between November one of twenty seventeen and January thirty first of twenty eighteen, so this went on for quite a little while. Count two accused Peterson of performing oral sex on the teenager between November first of twenty seventeen and January thirty first of twenty eighteen, and Count three accused Peterson of transmitting harmful information or images to the miner between November first of twenty seventeen and January thirty first of twenty eighteen. Peterson was also accused of sending the fourteen year old boy nude photos of so By October thirteenth of twenty eighteen, more details came out and it was discovered the fourteen year old student had actually told police the teacher had contacted him on Snapchat and told him to delete everything and right she didn't know where her brain was. She added, it was the worst decision of her life. Now, among the records provided on those snapchat messages, they show Peterson panicking when she learned the fourteen year old's mother was going to call police.

21:36 The messages she wrote include quote, so she's planning on doing something with it unquote. She continued on saying, I hate you so much. Please tell her it was the worst decision of my life. And I know it was bad. I don't know where my brain was, but somehow I fell in love with you briefly and I don't know why, and I'll never be the same person because of it. It Then get this, she continues messaging the student, and she says should I call her, meaning the student's mother, which I can only imagine how that fucking conversation would have went. At least I know how it would have went in my household.

22:17 And the final message she sent was please delete everything. So in these messages, this twenty six year old teacher is saying she's in love with a fourteen year old wt F Now. Information also came out that investigators talked to two other students about whether Peterson had any inappropriate relationships with them. One of those students said. Nothing inappropriate ever happened. The other student, which was a thirteen year old said there was no physical contact, but the teacher had sent him naked pictures on Snapchat. Said police confiscated his phone, but they couldnot find any naked pickure, so if it just wasn't any evidence there to charge her with anything.

23:06 However, they did find. Some weird messages that were exchanged back and forth between Peterson and that thirteen year old. There was no direct talk. Of sex in those messages, but there was some strange things that were discussed. I'll read them to you, Peterson said to the thirteen year old, quote, I should not have said any of that last night. I'm sorry, And a thirteen year old responded with it's fine, miss p and continue with why are you sorry, laugh out loud. Peterson responded with because I shouldn't have said anything, And a few texts later, that thirteen year old said I won't tell anyone, but he doesn't specify what he won't tell anyone. He just said I have it and I'm not going to tell anybody. So Peterson responds to that with, quote, I'm not upset. I just don't want to hurt you or do anything to get us in trouble. So it's easy to a pine that there may have been some talking about inappropriate things, but there's just not enough evidence and the student wasn't admitting to it. And it's also interesting to point out that it was at this time that the public found out that Stephanie Peterson's father was actually an attorney in the area, and I'm sure that helped.

24:23 And there were a lot more. Details on contact she had with that fourteen year old that came out. Apparently, Stephanie Peterson had sent him a picture of a woman's vagina on Snapchat, as well as a picture of her naked taking a shower with her face completely visible in the photo, so she couldn't deny it. It was also discovered that the teen told investigators the situation started after Peterson let him use her smartphone so he could log into her Instagram account to check his messages, but he forgot to log out of it, and later that night, she gets home, opens up her phone, she sees the Instagram is actually his Instagram and she sends him a message through his own Instagram account and that's how they started communicating. From there, they went to Snapchat and that's where the photos started. Through that they decided to meet up, and she drove to his house. One night, he sneaked out to her car and they had sex right there in his driveway in her car. The student also said she gave him oral sex on her couch in her house and twice in the barn behind his house.

25:40 Peterson had also asked him to have sexual intercourse with her two other times, but he said he'd turned that down because he didn't have condoms. And sadly, it was also discovered that the teen admitted to Peterson taking his virginity. So for all these charges and all this evidence that police had gathered, what do you think happened? Well, you've listened to bad teachers enough to figure out this one. On October seventeenth of twenty eighteen, she cut a deal and she pleaded guilty to having sex with that fourteen year old student, and she pleaded guilty to sending him those photos, and as part of that deal, prosecutors dropped that second count of sexual battery, so she awaited her sentencing.

26:35 That sentencing did occur, This was on December nineteenth of twenty eighteen, and she was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by two years of community control, which is basically House era same thing, and she must register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. And it was at this sentencing that Peterson took the stand and she read a statement, and her statements said, quote, I wish I could make it clear how sorry I am for what occurred. If I could say one thing to the victim, it would be that I'm sorry, two words that are used too often without much meaning. But I can honestly say with everything in my heart that I mean it to its truest definition. It's a huge misfortune what has happened, and I hope I'll be able to make things right by staying on medication and attending regular therapy.

27:27 And she went on to say she knew her actions were unforgivable. Teaching was the most meaningful thing in my life, and it's all I ever wanted to do growing up, and knowing that I was in a position of power and misusing that power to negatively influence another person's life is a morbid thought. I have to think about it all day, every day, and it's the last part that gets me. She ended that. Statement with, I have to think about it all day every day, not the victim has to think about it every day. It's all about her now. The victim's mother, she was not happy at all about this three year sentence. She actually took the stand at the sentencing and called for Peterson to be sent to prison for the maximum that she could get for cutting a deal. She said her previously funny, lighthearted son has grown to reserve the angry.

28:17 She said he's now in high school where some students tease him about having sex with his teacher. And she said Peterson should not get any breaks because she was a woman and she's beautiful. The sexual abuse afflicted on him by someone he trusted and liked so much has left him hardened. His mother said he is now untrustworthy of new people and even old friends. A psychologist testified earlier in the sentencing hearing that Peterson was in the midst of a mannic attack when she had sex with a fourteen year old, and that she was disgusted when she realized what she had done. Really well, you did it more than once. She also said Peterson told her quote, I'm supposed to protect children, not to her them. She also said Peterson's motivation for having sex with a student had little to do with sexual gratification and a lot to do with looking for attention and manifestations of delusional behavior.

29:13 Quote. I strongly feel there's a very low risk Miss Peterson would pose to ever re offend. Now, Peterson's mother also took the stand. She said she was so very sorry for her daughter's actions, and her daughter was remorseful. And look, there's victims on both sides of these things. I'm sure her mother was completely and utterly mortified over what her daughter did. So where's she at today, Well, she's out of jail. She was released in twenty twenty one, and I looked up her sex offender registry. She still lives in Florida. And it's really interesting on that registry that they have a victim information section and there's a block and it says the victim was a male and a minor.

30:04 But then underneath it it has another block and it says victim unknown gender male. I've just never seen that before on sex offender registries. Just struck me as strange. Maybe one of you out there knows why that is, but there you have it. Bad teacher Stephanie Peterson. And as I tell you all the time, you want to know why these things continue to the extent that they do. And this teacher had sex numerous times and ends up with only three years in jail. Stephanie Peterson is. A good example of that. She got off way too easy, in my opinion, and I'm telling you a lot of it was her luks.

30:49 She just didn't look like the type of person that would do that. Thank you so much for listening. Check out the Patreon for commercial, free early releases, bonus episodes, quarterly gifts, and. So much more. Patreon dot com slash Exposed podcast Files. I could not produce this show without the support those members give me. If you're enjoying what you're hearing and you'd like to help support, you can do so. And I promise you you're gonna get every single dime of your money's worth on this show And until next time for exposed scandalous files of the elite.

31:30 I'm your host, Jim Chapman. Much love,