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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Vials of
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the Elite. I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and I am
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back today in bringing you another Bad Teacher's State specific
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series episode, and this time we're going to Texas. Now reminder,
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last week we kicked off this series with the state
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of Arkansas, so if you haven't heard that one, go
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check it out. Some pretty wild stories coming out of
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Arkansas regarding the absolute epidemic of teacher student inappropriate relationship.
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So Texas definitely not without its struggles as it relates
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to these female teachers and students. It was a struggle,
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quite frankly, to pick just three to cover today. Now,
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all of these cases I am covering today are relatively
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new cases that have taken place in twenty twenty and beyond,
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and I'm going to start this one out with our
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first teacher, Brandon, and y'all, it's a female who actually
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spells her name brn d y n, which, hey, I
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love unique spellings of names and had not seen Brandon
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spelled that way before for a female. But back to it.
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This is the story of Brandon Martin Hargrove, who is
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a former high school English teacher accused of assaulting a
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fifteen year old female student multiple times. And while the
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incidents allegedly occurred in two thousand and seven, it was
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not until twenty twenty three that these instances of sexual
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assault came out. So let's get into it, and as
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we always do here on Exposed, we start at the
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beginning with these bad teachers and for Brandon Hargrove. She
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was born in nineteen eighty in Lake Jackson, Texas, which
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is part of the Greater Houston, Texas area. A large
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city about thirty thousand residents, and it's actually known as
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the City of Enchantment. And Brandon is part of a
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very very prominent family in Lake Jackson with a lot
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of political power. Her dad, as a matter of fact,
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is a former city councilman and even former mayor of
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the city. So it's safe to assume that Brandon grew
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up rather privileged. She graduated from Brazo's Wood High School
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and in two thousand and two she started teaching English
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at the school. Now, throughout her time teaching career, she
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seemed to excel in teaching. She would eventually become head
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of the English department. Along the way, she would win
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Teacher of the Year honors, She would get married, she
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would have a son in twenty fourteen, and life on
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the outside appeared just great for Brandon. Then it all
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came crashing down, as it so often does when I
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cover these cases. And in September of twenty twenty three,
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a then thirty two year old woman walks into the
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Klute Police department and she reports sexual abuse that she
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alleged was suffered at the hands of teacher Brandon Hargrove
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from the years two thousand and seven to two thousand
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and nine, when she was a fifteen year old freshman
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and sixteen year old sophomore at the school. So she
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details a long abusive relationship with Hargrove, her former tea,
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claiming it lasted about two years and involved multiple instances
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of sexual contact. She told police that she had lived
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in fear for years, replaying the trauma in questioning her
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own role in it, which, look y'all, it's common, especially
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in cases involving male teachers and female students, which is
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why some many go un reported. When it comes to
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the female victims, they seem to question things a lot.
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Did I lead this teacher on? If they experienced some
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sort of pleasure out of it. Early on, they questioned
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that maybe they wanted it to happen. Whatever. Now, it's
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important to note that even the time between the incidents
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and the time in which the victim reported it was
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seventeen years or so, no statute of limitation applies in
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the state of Texas to these type of felonies, which
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is a good thing. So, of course, an investigation starts,
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and it all starts with attempting to cooperate the victim's account,
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which is not easy. This many years later, police would, however,
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manage to locate and interview several former classmates from Brizo's
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Wood High School who attended in two thousand and six
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to two thousand and eight, and they would focus on
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individuals the victim claim she had told about the abuse
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at that time. So on September twenty ninth of twenty
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twenty three, the school in which Hargrove was teaching, they
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were informed of the investigation and they place Hargrove on
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leave penning the results of that investigation, and on December
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nineteenth of twenty twenty three, a grand jury indicts Hargrove
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on twelve felon accounts, and I want to review those
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with you quickly and while they are disturbing, this is
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real life in these sick individuals. People need to know
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what they're capable of, in my opinion, so let's review
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the indictment quickly. And this indictment it's a little different
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than an arrest affidavit, so it's not going to go
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into a lot of the details of the crime, but
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it's going to go into what the grand jury actually
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found that there was enough evidence to charge Brandon Hargrove
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with these particular counts. And the first one, I'm just
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going to highlight the I guess the important parts of
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these counts. It says, on the fourth day of December
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two thousand and seven, in the county and state AfOR
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said Brandon Hargrove did then and there intentionally or knowingly
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cause the mouth of let's say, victim child younger than
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seventeen years old, and not the defendant spouse to contact
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the sexual organ of the defendant of Brandon Hargrove. Count
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two says the same thing, except for it says did
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then and there intentionally or knowingly cause the sexual organ
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of victim a child younger than seventeen years of age
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to contact the sexual organ of the defendant. So the
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first one was in regards to the mouth of the
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seventeen year old, the second count as regard to one
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organ touching the other sexual organ. Count three says the
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same thing. It says, did then, in their intentionally or
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knowingly cause the sexual organ of victim, a child younger
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than seventeen years of age, to contact the mouth of
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the defendant in this case, Brandan Hargrove, Count four says
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the same thing, did then, in their knowingly cause the
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penetration of the sexual organ of victim, a child younger
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than seventeen years of age, by the finger of the defendant.
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Brandon Horgrove, Count five, did then, in their intentionally or
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knowingly cause the penetration of sexual organ of a child
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younger than seventeen years of age, and not the defendant's
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spouse by a cucumber Holy smokes. Count six, did then,
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in there or knowingly cause the penetration of the sexual
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organ of victim a child younger than seventeen and not
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the defendant spouse by a dildo. Count seven did then,
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in there with the intent to arouse or gratify the
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sexual desire of said defendant intentionally and knowingly engage in
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sexual contact with victim child younger than seventeen, and not
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the defendant spouse by touching the genitalia of the said child.
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Count eight did then in there with the intent to
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arouse or gratify the sexual desire of said defendant intentionally
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knowingly calls child younger than seventeen years of age and
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not the defendant spouse, to engage in sexual contact by
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causing said child to touch the genitals of the defendant.
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Count nine says the same thing. Did then in there
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with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire
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of said defendant intentionally or knowingly engage in sexual contact
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with victim a child younger than seventeen by touching the
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brust of the said child. Then Count ten says the
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same thing, but it says causing the said child to
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touch the brust of the defendant. Count eleven did then
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in there with the intent to arouse or gratify the
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sexual desire of said defendant, intentionally or knowingly exposed the
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defendant's genitals knowing that the victim was a child younger
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than seventeen, And Count twelve, did then and there, with
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the intent to arouse and gratify the sexual desire of
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said defendant, intentionally or knowingly calls victim a child younger
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than seventeen and not the defendant spouse, to expose her genitals.
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So that's all twelve counts basically disgusting, right, And y'all
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these indictments, as I said, they're from a grand jury,
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meaning a jury of her peers felt enough evidence existed
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even seventeen years later to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
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that Hargrove did everything that I just read you. So
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two days later, on December twenty first, twenty twenty three,
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just before Christmas, Hargrove is arrested and released the same day,
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posting a two hundred and forty thousand dollars bond. Now
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a month later, on January twenty second of twenty twenty four,
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she has fired from the high school that she taught at.
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And y'all, with these twelve counts that she's facing, she's
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looking at two hundred freaking years in prison.
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Jim, did you see what happened in Texas today?
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Wait before you tell me that, let me tell you
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what happened in New York.
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It cannot be as crazy as the case I told
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you about yesterday in Louisiana.
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You know what, we should do a podcast.
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About it, and with that we did. Crime War Weekly
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covers the crime news headlines that have dominated the week.
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We cover trending crimes from all over the country and
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even sprinkle in a few globally.
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Crime War Weekly is available now wherever you listen to
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your podcasts.
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Simply by searching Crime wiar Weekly or clicking the link
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in the description of this podcast. So as they all do,
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Brandon Hargrove, she sees the writing on the wall and
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going to trial, the prosecution they're going to seek the
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mac sentence. Right, that's a lot to risk, So she
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takes the plea deal of all freaking plea deals. I
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have never seen such a case where you're facing two
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hundred years in prison and you plead to hold on
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to yours on this one probation, zero jail time, zero,
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not one freaking day. Now the details of this. For
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ten of the felonies that I just read you, she
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received what's known as deferred adjudication for ten years. Basically
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that means keep your nose clean, don't get in any
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trouble for ten years and you're home free. If you
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get in trouble, you're gonna have to serve your time.
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For the other two charges, she received ten years in prison,
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but it was all suspended every day of it. As
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a matter of fact, the only punishment of consequence that
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she received was lifetime sex offender registration. That's it now.
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Although there was no trial at the sentencing, her victim
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did speak in in her victim impact statement, she said, quote, Brandon,
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I face you today as an adult who now protects
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the child you once exploited and betrayed. You didn't just
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break boundaries, you broke a person, and today I go
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from victim to survivor. And it's important to note that,
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according to reports, she supported the plea deal, which is
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her right, and she is the victim, and really her
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support of whatever deal they make is more important than
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anybody else's, including mine. But I sure don't support it personally,
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and it's primarily because other people see that, y'all, and
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they think I can do this and I won't do
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any prison time either, and especially the female perpetrators. Now,
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there are no indications that her husband divorced her, so
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I think it's safe to assume they're still married. There's
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nothing out there saying they have filed for divorce or anything.
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And that's kind of bizarre to me. I mean, your
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wife raped allegedly a fifteen year old and sixteen year
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old and you know you're still married to her just
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seems strange to me. Two hundred freaking years y'all. She
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was looking at and I can't help but think did
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Dad's political connections play a role in this? What are
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your thoughts? So let's move on to our next bad teacher.
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And we're going to get a grape Vine, Texas for
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this one, which grape Vine, Texas, very large city just
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outside of Dallas. And I'm going to introduce you to
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a former English teacher at Killo High School and her
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name is Elainey Simonson, who in December of nineteen ninety four,
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was arrested at the age of twenty nine for having
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a sexual relationship with a sixteen year old male student
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over forty times. While get ready for this, he was
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living with her in her home. How did that happen?
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Let's get into it a little about her background before
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her arrest. She was born in Texas, though it's not
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clear where in Texas. She graduates high school in twenty thirteen,
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and she attended Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth and
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she would get her degree in education. Now, in twenty nineteen,
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she starts off her teaching career as a teaching assistant
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at Cannon Elementary School. This is in Great Vine, Texas.
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And in twenty twenty one she becomes a certified teacher
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in the state of Texas. Now, it's interesting that along
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the way she publishes a children's book called Wendell the Weasel,
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and that book actually becomes really popular among parents. It
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sells really well. It's on Amazon and all the places. Right. So,
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in August of twenty twenty two, she takes a job
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as an English teacher for Killo High School, where she
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teaches eleventh grade English. It all seems fine until twenty
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twenty three, and the issues kind of start off early
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in the year for A Laney. First, on January fourth
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of twenty twenty three, a restraining order is filed by
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the husband of A Laney and it's essentially a no
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contact order. Now, although I have the order in front
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of me, there's no mention as to what caused the
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restraining order. It could be something as simple as a
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requirement by the court. Sometimes courts do this because if
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you're getting a divorce, basically they want to have something
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in writing saying you can't harass each other and all
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those sort of things. So it could have been as
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simple as that, or it could have been much worse,
241
00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.440
which is what I'm leaning toward, and I'll get into
242
00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:59.879
that in just a minute, but it's definitely worth noting.
243
00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:04.000
Also of note is the reference of two children. So