Rebekah M. Todd is seen during a court appearance in this May 15, 2006 file photo.
Story Originally Reported on AP. Updated by FP: Mar 17, 2007 at 10:17 AM EST
TACOMA, Wash. - A Tacoma judge ignored a plea bargain and sentenced a former Buckley teacher to six months in jail for having sex with a 17-year-old student in April, 2006. The judge apparently wanted to make an example of her.
Rebekah M. Todd, 25, had expected a sentence of 30 days in home detention when she appeared Friday in Pierce County Superior Court. She had pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault. It is not yet reported whether or not the teen consented or if she had wielded her authority or grades in order to gain his compliance.
She was so confident the Judge would accept the sentence recommended by prosecutors and her defense attorney that she reportedly had her husband waiting outside in the car to take her home after the hearing according to reports in the Tacoma News Tribune.
When contacted at his home in Forks, Clallam County, Todd’s husband of seven months, Ricky Gooding, declined to comment Monday.
Prosecutors said they had evidence she performed oral sex on the White River High School boy the number of times also yet to be reported. Prosecutors said they had evidence Todd performed oral sex on the boy, 17 years old at the time, and later kissed him at a party. The health and physical education teacher resigned after she was accused and forfeited her teaching certificate.
The deputy prosecutor, Hugh Birgenheier, says the judge, Bryan Chushcoff, decided not to follow the recommendation from the plea bargain because of the intent of earlier legislation making it illegal for k-12 teachers to have sex with students.
Professional codes of conduct bar sexual contact between school employees and all students. But, if the students were 16 or older, such contact wasn't always considered illegal until a new bill addressing the topic passed the Washington Legislature in 2001.
Editor's note: The article didn't say how the act was exposed. Do you suppose this 17 yo boy complained or bragged?
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Rebekah M. Todd, 25, had expected a sentence of 30 days in home detention when she appeared Friday in Pierce County Superior Court. She had pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault. It is not yet reported whether or not the teen consented or if she had wielded her authority or grades in order to gain his compliance.
She was so confident the Judge would accept the sentence recommended by prosecutors and her defense attorney that she reportedly had her husband waiting outside in the car to take her home after the hearing according to reports in the Tacoma News Tribune.
When contacted at his home in Forks, Clallam County, Todd’s husband of seven months, Ricky Gooding, declined to comment Monday.
Prosecutors said they had evidence she performed oral sex on the White River High School boy the number of times also yet to be reported. Prosecutors said they had evidence Todd performed oral sex on the boy, 17 years old at the time, and later kissed him at a party. The health and physical education teacher resigned after she was accused and forfeited her teaching certificate.
The deputy prosecutor, Hugh Birgenheier, says the judge, Bryan Chushcoff, decided not to follow the recommendation from the plea bargain because of the intent of earlier legislation making it illegal for k-12 teachers to have sex with students.
Professional codes of conduct bar sexual contact between school employees and all students. But, if the students were 16 or older, such contact wasn't always considered illegal until a new bill addressing the topic passed the Washington Legislature in 2001.
Editor's note: The article didn't say how the act was exposed. Do you suppose this 17 yo boy complained or bragged?
Slashdot It!
28 comments:
She looks good to me. My guess is, she did it; he thought it was the best thing since apple pie; He brags to all his buddies.
He gets off. She goes down---
And they say education is failing.
summa cum laude
this thing has really exploded in the teacher's face. it's also too bad everyone blew it for the student. that just sucks. It's not easy to get head of the class when you've got such a heavy load. however, i find defense of the teacher a bit hard to swallow.
is it just me or is the younger generation really really really lucky.
Nice to not have good legal counsel. You'll notice she pleaded guilty to assault based on a deal with the prosecutor. Which the judge didn't honor. She got suckered. It's not statutory rape. He's 17. And no assault was claimed. It's just inappropriate behavior. Guess the judge wanted to set the double standard. Guys get away with this every day and only receive official reprimands at best with girls under 16.
Jokes on her.
Actually this is statutory rape. In washington the age of consent is 16 except for three exceptions. One of which is school teachers and school administration employees over their students which can be found in RCW 9A.44.096. In this case the age of consent would be 18, which he was not.
Yet another teacher who only gave lip service to the lessons she presented orally in class.
if she would have been a year younger and not his teacher they could fuck around all they wanted...100% legal till she would have hit 25 then illegal till he hit 18....i was 17 and with a 25 yr old and we just kept it a secret till i hit 18...now i am 18 and dating a 24 yr old and my parents cant do anything about any of it!
where the hell was she when i was in high school? i would have made her my girlfriend!!!! WTF lucky kid
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Whats up with kids today that can't just SHUT THE FUCK UP? If I was getting action from my hot teacher in school I would chill and enjoy. How did they catch it? The moron was probably even blogging about it on myspace.. :/
Kids today... tsk tsk
Can you imagine: Teacher walks in, you are showering. She says, "It's just us, mind if I join? And suck your cock?"
The 17y/o spews a gallon of gew before she even touches him, spazzing out while she laps it up.
James Hook:
This is EXACTLY why you should never mess with someone that young. I agree that it's stupid to destroy someone's career for something like this, especially when at 17 they can be sentenced to life imprisonment for other crimes (i.e. if you know right from wrong, it's only valid if you commit a crime?). Heck, I wanted to bang my chemistry teacher when I was 14 and wouldn't have given it a second thought with respect to abuse of authority unless she started hanging my grades over my head.
But the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of kids are unreliable in these matters because of their immaturity, and the threat of abuse of authority can and does exist. Most adults that get charged for this are precisely because the younger person decides to brag to friends or because they don't behave discretely around their homes where parents still snoop around. Remember that they're trying to develop their sense of identity and social standing among their peers. They own virtually none of the consequences of their actions.
I also think that this is exactly why these types of cases are getting such publicity - to bring this issue out in the open and drive the frequency of the phenomenon down.
I think my favorite part of story is how she is a newlywed. Apparently her hubby wasn't letting her give as much head as she wanted.
This kind of of action for a 17 is the equivalent of winning the lottery. I wish there were more teachers like her when i was 17. Detention would have been a lot more fun.
Serves her right, whats wrong with all the USA teachers having sex with under age students, she knew what would happen if caught and she new what she was doing. What justifies the 6month sentence is the fact she is married.
Have fun in jail sl4g
When something like this happens in a small town, it always gets tongues wagging.
Yes, she blew it.
But what happened to her gives me a lump in my throat, and makes me gag.
If anything was being done that was improper they should have called in the head master.
There was much hope for her ability to stimulate her students.
The entire community placed its trust deeply in her.
After years of loyal service, she would have dined on caviar.
But the judge was not willing to let it slide.
Now, her career is going down.
She is in trouble over her head.
You're all a bunch of idiots. She's a child molester and got off lucky. When a boy is sexually abused by a woman in a position of authority it isn't like "winning the lottery" - it's abuse.
Take it from a guy who knows.
The guy was 17 years old, not some 8 year old kid. Maybe someone can post evidence that high school students in this situation suffer mental anguish. I just can't see it, though.
She was a "health and physical education teacher". Looks to me she was giving the boy some education!
In the USA they complete nuts.
Here in Holland such a teacher should get a decoration.
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I'd still hit it though
My God I am from Amsterdam But I'm shocked, why did my teachers did not do this to me....
What makes this news is that the woman is getting prosecuted. Legally this was defined as rape because of his age.
Men are actually raped more often than women in the USA if you include prison rapes, however sexual crimes against men are rarely reported, let alone prosecuted, in the USA.
Because of this fact, the teacher probably assumed she would get away with what she did.
Very interesting!
i went to high school with this pedophile. she was a slut and she's still a slut now...ask any cummings boy from good ol delta junction alaska wheres shes from..she fucked all of em..cousins, brothers, and possibly even their dad. this condescending bitch deserves every second of jail time. she can take that snooty little nose and shove it up her ass.
you cant rape the willing
"i went to high school with this pedophile. she was a slut and she's still a slut now" ... "she can take that snooty little nose and shove it up her ass."
Soooo.. she did your boyfriend, did she?
"Second-degree assault"?? Whoa, wait a minute. WAIT A MINUTE. This was a 17-year old boy. Ask any adult male to think back to when he was 17, and ask him what he would've done if he had gotten a chance to get a bj from a pretty teacher. Do you seriously think he would've declined?? HELL NO. Man, this wasn't rape. That boy would've jumped through flaming hoops. I'm a 23 male now, and looking back to when I was in high school, I would've said yes in a heartbeat...especially to that pretty teacher.
What is this place coming to?!
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