OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 30, 2008
Teacher Gets 6 Years In Student Sex Case
Judge, Lawyers Agree Woman's Maturity Level Was About That Of Her 13-Year-Old Student
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This photo provided by the Imperial County Sheriff's Office, shows Kelsey Peterson, then 25, in El Centro, Calif, on Nov. 5, 2007. (AP Photo)
That's the verdict of a federal judge, who on Monday sentenced Peterson to six years behind bars for fleeing to Mexico with the boy when he was 13.
U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp said Peterson's maturity level "seems to be on the level of a junior high school student," and the boy's attorney agreed.
"Twenty-year-olds are not attracted to 12-year-olds - that's just not normal," attorney Amy Peck said. "She viewed herself as younger than she really was and didn't see it as inappropriate."
Peterson told the judge that she took responsibility for what she did, and said she wanted to move on with her life and make it better.
"I am not a sexual predator. That's not who I am," Peterson said.
But the victim, now 14 and starting 8th grade at another school, "is a changed kid," his attorney said.
"He is much quieter now," Peck said. "He's been through a lot."
Peterson was the boy's sixth-grade math teacher at Lexington Middle School during the 2005-06 school year, then started having sex with him in November 2006, according to court documents.
The pair disappeared in October, soon after the district's superintendent confronted Peterson about allegations of an inappropriate relationship with the boy.
She was arrested a week later in Mexicali, Mexico, after the boy made a cell phone call to his mother.
Peterson's lawyer, James Martin Davis, acknowledged that Peterson probably won't ever be able to teach in schools again. She's not off the hook on state charges, either.
In four years, she could be released from federal prison. She's being credited nearly a year for time she's already served., and could get another year off for good behavior.
In the meantime, her attorney said, she's a gifted teacher and hopes to use those skills at a women's prison in Pekin, Ill.
"I think she's got plans to teach math in the prison while she's there," Davis said. "She's already thinking along those lines."
Meanwhile, the boy is living in Nebraska with his family, his attorney said, but she would not say where except that it's not Lexington. She said there's no relationship between the boy and his former teacher, and "I would fully doubt if there will be a relationship in the future."
When Peterson was arrested, the boy "felt that it was my entire fault and felt terribly bad that Kelsey was in jail," he said in a statement provided by Peck.
Peterson "often told me that there was something special about me," he said, and she slipped him love notes after class, gave him beer and let him drive her car.
The Associated Press previously named the boy as police were searching for him but stopped using his name after authorities charged Peterson with a sex crime.
He was an illegal immigrant in the United States when he left with Peterson. He's been granted humanitarian parole by the Department of Homeland Security, and his attorney hopes to win permanent legal status for him and his family.
Davis has publicly questioned the boy's birth certificate, saying he was likely at least 16, and that he was the aggressor.
Peck and the boy's family have bristled at the suggestion, and neither Peterson nor Davis repeated it Monday.
Davis secured a plea deal for Peterson that stipulated a sentence of between 70 months and 87 months. By pleading guilty, she avoided a similar charge that would have carried a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence.
Peterson and her relatives and friends cried as they waved to each other across the courtroom and said, "I love you" after the hearing Monday.
"The next time I see you we can hug each other," she told family members, including her mother and father.
Her attorney says she's just glad it's over, but another chapter is just starting.
Dawson County Attorney Elizabeth Waterman said Monday that her staff will work to get custody of Peterson so she can face the state charges, which include kidnapping, felony sexual assault and child abuse.
"We'll be ready to gear up on ours as soon as we can get custody back," Waterman said.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 40 CommentsTeachers with no tenure - just starting out - are among the LOWEST PAID in all states in wages and benefits.
But I guess to a home-skooled Baptist *** like ''mytoosense'' even a thousand dollars a month seems pretty grand !
Silly snake-handling TrashTwat.
Posted by jroberts1976
ANd what if it turns out the kid was really 18?, send them BOTH to Mexico and let get hitched up down there.
Posted by diatreme
Yeah, geez, like at age 12-13 he was "innocent" and virginal. I was having s3x at 9 and my younger friends made me feel I was late even at that age.
A 12 year old is hardly a clueless idiot!
Posted by Mark19712"
Yeah right, but he got AROUSED, and that aint gonna happen under duress, besides they absconded off to Mexico TOGETHER willingly, just like a couple of other female teachers with young teen boys- the boy WILLINGLY went or participated, sorry,but that''s NOT a "victim"
Posted by One_Texan
Well, I''m LAUGHING because that''s nuts, the guy has to get ummm AROUSED to even get hard, and the guy isnt going to get aroused unless he wants to or is stimulated right.
ACTION ALERT: [supposedly] info from DNC SOURCE NOT VERIFIED
Hi all,
Let me share some info with you that I have gotten from excellent sources
within the DNC:
On or about October 5th, Biden will excuse himself from the ticket, citing
health problems, and he will be replaced by Hillary. This is timed to occur
after the VP debate on 10/2.
There have been talks all weekend about how to proceed with this info.
Generally, the feeling is that we should all go ahead and get it out there
to as many blog sites and personal email lists as is possible. I have
already seen a few short blurbs about this - the ''''health problem'''' cited in
those articles was aneurysm. Probably many of you have heard the same
rumblings.
However, at this point, with this inside info from the DNC, it looks like
this Obama strategy will be a go. Therefore, it seems that the best
strategy is to get out in front of this Obama maneuver, spell it out in
detail, and thereby expose it for the grand manipulation that it is.
So, et''''s start mixing this one up and cut the Obamites off at the pass -
send this info out to as many people as you can - post about it on websites
and blogs - etc.
...and you don''t think there are 12 year old girls who would be thrilled to be having s*x with that studly male understanding teacher they''ve had a crush on all year? So what''s the difference? Are you saying it the kid''s ''into it'' then it shouldn''t be a crime for an adult to have s*x with him or her?
Bottom line is that if it were a guy who took his 12 year old female student to Mexico & banged her silly - even if she loved every minute of it.... he''d be going away for a loooooong time - and there wouldn''t be any talk of how he''s really just a 13 year old himself trapped in a man''s body.... typical double standard.
This one''s a coyote.
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Posted by newster1 at 01:47 PM : Sep 30, 2008
Excellent math skills, newster! Maybe your math teacher was teaching YOU something other than arithmetic, too? (just kidding)
From the judge, to the attorneys, to the comments in this section, its all completely disgusting.
These women are predators when they PREY on someone.
It''s beyond absurd to simply declare all male predators and all women victims. We have women in Tennessee who have murdered their husbands, go into court, claim to be the victim, and they get out within months, and get their children back too.
I''m telling you right now, there is no difference between a man who kills his wife and a woman who kills her husband. When you pick up a gun and kill someone, you have the control problem...not your victim.
When some teacher molests a student. The teacher is a sexual predator....and the child is not the aggressor.
Always, period, forever....if you cannot handle it, don''t become a teacher. This woman''s sentence is far too late, for being a rapist and a pedophile.
What''s the difference? 8 years, when he is 18 she''ll be 26, obviously she WAS attracted.
"But the victim, now 14 and starting 8th grade at another school, "is a changed kid," his attorney said.
"He is much quieter now," Peck said. "He''s been through a lot."
All the unwanted national publicity and people making a big deal of it all is what made him a VICTIM, not the consentual acts he probably was bragging about to his friends.
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