Tenn. Teacher Charged With Sexual Battery

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Tenn. Teacher Charged With Sexual Battery
February 09, 2005 12:44 PM EST

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. - An elementary school teacher has been charged with having sex with one of her students, a 13-year-old boy, at his home and at school, authorities said Tuesday.

Pamela Turner, 27, was charged Monday with 15 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and 13 counts of statutory rape for acts between November and January.

Turner, who teaches physical education at Centertown Elementary, lived at the boy's house "for a brief period of time when she was moving from residence to residence," Warren County prosecutor Dale Potter said. The boy's parents did not know anything about the relationship, he said.

Potter said Turner was arrested Monday in Clarkrange, her hometown about 55 miles northeast of McMinnville in central Tennessee.

Conviction on all counts could be punished by up to 100 years in prison. But Potter said it was more likely that a conviction would mean a minimum of a year to several years in prison.

Turner is free on $50,000 bond. She's been placed on leave by the school system.

A telephone message left at the home of her father, who lives in Clarkrange, was not immediately returned Tuesday evening.

Turner's husband filed for divorce in January, alleging inappropriate marital conduct, according to the Southern Standard newspaper in McMinnville.

Innapropriate marital conduct? Pffftt... understatement.

And I thought that if a teacher was accused of sexual behavior/conduct with a child they were dismissed immediatly? Not put on leave of absence?!

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Prolly on leave until convicted.

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so what if they are not convicted, but ARE guilty?
I always thought that if you had ANY sexual misconduct on your record, accused/guilty or what have you, you could not teach?

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TN Teacher charged with sexual battery
Embarrassed

embarassed to admit it but I live in this town. I do not personally know the teacher or her husband. I do, however, know the boy's father. Graduated the same year from high school as a matter of fact.
Knowing this family, there may be more behind these allegations than what has been printed and televised.
From my understanding, the divorce papers also cited irreconcilable differences which has not been divulged.
If she is guilty, she should be given the harshest sentence prescribed by law, which in this state is over 100 years.

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Quote:

Knowing this family, there may be more behind these allegations than what has been printed and televised.

Do tell us!

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Over 100 years?
Now that is a law that should be nation wide!!!!

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The boy's father was caught and convicted on drug charges (meth). Instead of going to jail as he should have, they shipped him off to a mental hospital for awhile. He (the father) has been harrassing his in-laws like they had something to do with it.
On top of everything else, the boy bragged about what was allegedly going on to his friends. As as far as being traumatized, he has been the leading scorer on his school basketball team. Now tell me, are they twisted or what?

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shewolfnm wrote:

so what if they are not convicted, but ARE guilty?
I always thought that if you had ANY sexual misconduct on your record, accused/guilty or what have you, you could not teach?

Good Lord, I hope that's not true anywhere in the free world! If it were, then all a vengeful kid needs to do is to accuse his/her teacher of sexual molestation and the teacher's career is ruined, guilty or not. That's a horrifying thought.

This whole story reeks, in fact. That the teacher misbehaved, there seems little doubt. But why is everyone assuming that she was the instigator of this liaison? Isn't it just as likely, given her divorce and all, that she was seduced by a precocious 13-year-old? I teach in a detention facility for boys, ages 13-18, who are accused of various crimes and/or misdemeanors and are awaiting a court appearnce. I have known plenty of 13-year-old fathers. Right now I have a 12-year-old among my students. I have no reason to doubt that he has been sexually active since at least age 11. To look at him you'd swear he was at least 16, probably older.

We're railroading this poor female teacher because of an unfortunate error in judgement. (Lemme tell ya', when I was 13, making it with one of my younger teachers was a recurring fantasy. I never acted on it, but there's no reason to suspect that every red-blooded young man who has reached puberty is equally reticent.) I can't believe some of the comments on this thread.

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Teacher charged with having sex with student
New information on local news tonight. Our local D.A. did an interview on Fox news show On The Record. According to this report, it started with an email to the boy that she thought he was cute, he replied that he thought she was hot!
Now they are saying that there was talk of marriage. YUCK!
I still believe that there is more behind this story than was has been released.
I don't live life through rose colored glasses, but if I'm right I hope that charges will be filed against this crazy family. Imagine ruining someones life over vengence. This whole incident is crazy and just makes me sick.

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Merry Andrew wrote:

shewolfnm wrote:
so what if they are not convicted, but ARE guilty?
I always thought that if you had ANY sexual misconduct on your record, accused/guilty or what have you, you could not teach?

Good Lord, I hope that's not true anywhere in the free world! If it were, then all a vengeful kid needs to do is to accuse his/her teacher of sexual molestation and the teacher's career is ruined, guilty or not. That's a horrifying thought.

This whole story reeks, in fact. That the teacher misbehaved, there seems little doubt. But why is everyone assuming that she was the instigator of this liaison? Isn't it just as likely, given her divorce and all, that she was seduced by a precocious 13-year-old? I teach in a detention facility for boys, ages 13-18, who are accused of various crimes and/or misdemeanors and are awaiting a court appearnce. I have known plenty of 13-year-old fathers. Right now I have a 12-year-old among my students. I have no reason to doubt that he has been sexually active since at least age 11. To look at him you'd swear he was at least 16, probably older.

We're railroading this poor female teacher because of an unfortunate error in judgement. (Lemme tell ya', when I was 13, making it with one of my younger teachers was a recurring fantasy. I never acted on it, but there's no reason to suspect that every red-blooded young man who has reached puberty is equally reticent.) I can't believe some of the comments on this thread.

Seduced by a 13 year old? That is just stupid. She is an adult, she knew it was wrong. Any 13 year boy doesn't know what he's doing. Younger kids always have crushes on younger good looking teachers, but of course we don't act on it because we don't know how and because a good teacher will handle it in an adult way, not by sleeping with the kid. It doesn't matter if the teacher instigated or not. She's a CHILD MOLESTOR and that's that.

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No, Tenoch, "that's" not "that." I completely agree with you that this teacher did not handle the situation in an adult way. I am not defending her actions; they were, obviously, wrong. I am simply trying to put this into perspective. I know plenty of 13-year-olds who would gleefully try to seduce a good-looking older woman. You're right, this is where the adult judgement of maturity should enter into the picture. What I am objecting to is that everyone on this thread (well, almost everyone) seems intent on making a child molester out of this woman. I'll bet the boy is pleased as punch with himself and the woman's professional life as a teacher is ruined. I have seen this happen. Dumb young women with flaming hormones can become victims of crafty young men who have their own hormonal issues. And, yes, young predators can be as young as 13 and even 12 years old. Puberty seems to arrive earlier and earlier in recent years.

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Merry Andrew wrote:

No, Tenoch, "that's" not "that." I completely agree with you that this teacher did not handle the situation in an adult way. I am not defending her actions; they were, obviously, wrong. I am simply trying to put this into perspective. I know plenty of 13-year-olds who would gleefully try to seduce a good-looking older woman. You're right, this is where the adult judgement of maturity should enter into the picture. What I am objecting to is that everyone on this thread (well, almost everyone) seems intent on making a child molester out of this woman. I'll bet the boy is pleased as punch with himself and the woman's professional life as a teacher is ruined. I have seen this happen. Dumb young women with flaming hormones can become victims of crafty young men who have their own hormonal issues. And, yes, young predators can be as young as 13 and even 12 years old. Puberty seems to arrive earlier and earlier in recent years.

why should we hold older men to a higher standard than older women. Even if that is true, I constantly hear how women mature faster than men. Of course each case should be handled individually. To put this into "perspective" there are probably more girls who are 13 and trying to seduce older men. i have seen that puberty does arrive earlier in recent years, but I notice that girls are reaching it earlier than boys. So by your standards, young 13 year old girls who try to seduce older men should also be labled sexual predators, and the men they seduce victims?

Oh, and blaming it on flaming hormones is stupid to me.

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Merry Andrew wrote:

That the teacher misbehaved, there seems little doubt. But why is everyone assuming that she was the instigator of this liaison? Isn't it just as likely, given her divorce and all, that she was seduced by a precocious 13-year-old? [..]

We're railroading this poor female teacher because of an unfortunate error in judgement. (Lemme tell ya', when I was 13, making it with one of my younger teachers was a recurring fantasy. I never acted on it, but there's no reason to suspect that every red-blooded young man who has reached puberty is equally reticent.)

Merry Andrew, repeat what you have said here just now but about a male teacher and a girl student and listen to how it sounds ...

Sexual abuse of boys, let alone by women, is still a taboo (though there seems to be a sudden outbreak of these stories going on in the States right now, this is the third one I've seen posted here in a few months I think) -- but there's no reason to think that whats really harmful to a 13-year old girl is all cool & groovy to a 13-year old boy. Of course the boy would brag about it, of course boys have crushes on their female teachers. 13-year old girls have crushes and sexual fantasies about their male teachers too, and when they are snared in some kind of sexual relationship with one, its been known enough for them to brag about it or re-explain it to themselves as a proper love relationship or as their conquest or whatever - but none such braggodocio or rationalisations necessarily make the psychological damage it is likely to inflict any less. Theres a big difference between fantasy and reality, and a relationship between a 20- or 30-something old teacher and a 13-year old student is going to be unequal to well over the point of abuse no matter who is of what gender.

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Compare this thread of a while ago: 14 year old student bangs teacher, then calls the cops. And note especially what dlowan posted there - for example in this post (I suppose she is as much of an expert as we have around here).

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Thanks for the link, nimh. I read dlowan's post and browsed the rest of the thread cursorily. I have great respect for dlowan's views, especially in matters such as this. Again, I am not arguing that the teacher in question here is somehow "innocent," only that all the criticism and condemnation of her actions is somewhat one-sided. There seems to be no question that the union was consensual.

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My wife just called me frank-and-crude which she assures me is a slight improvement on Frank-en-stein so I will be very frank in this post while trying to avoid crudity.

When a sexually mature boy, capable of making sexual advances to a woman, instigates and completes an act of satisfying sexual intercourse with an older female suggestions he has been abused are folly.

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gozmo wrote:

When a sexually mature boy, capable of making sexual advances to a woman, instigates and completes an act of satisfying sexual intercourse with an older female suggestions he has been abused are folly.

Boys and girls are "sexually mature" to the point of being able to "instigate and complete an act of sexual intercourse" from age, what? 12? 13? Its not something we like to think of much, but its true. Does that mean that if a 12 or 13 year old girl or boy ends up having intercourse with someone a decade or more older, its "folly" to think abuse was involved? What nonsense. (Call me frank-and-crude too).

Abuse is not just a question of physically forcing sex. Sexual abuse involves coercion and intimidation, preying on young ones' budding sense of their sexual self and perhaps above all, making them feel like an accomplice in what they're doing (its what contributes to the lasting sense of shame).

There are countries where 12-year olds marry and as Andrew pointed out, some 12 year olds are physically able to have children. Does that mean that any 25 or 30 year old guy having sex with one is, you know, natural, (in Andrew's previous words) "red-blooded" instinct? Again, piffle. To suggest that the mere, physical ability to instigate and complete an act of sex means that the kid in question was in control of the situation and able to express proper consensuality is folly. Anyone who read up a little bit on the sexual abuse of minors should know that. (And as to whether it was "satisfactory", you dont know skiddle-dee - and the point is, he doesnt know, really, either - thats why we consider him to be below the age of consent).

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Consensual sex, between adult and child - when one partner is not legally (or mentally - the human brain is not mature - especially the more abstract reasoning aspects thereof - until about 23 - no matter what the hormones are doing) able to give informed consent, does not exist.

Sorry guys - I know some of you wanna see a difference - and, perhaps, sometimes there actually IS a difference - but we have laws to prevent exploitation of kids. If everyone decides that (as abusers do) in THEIR special case the laws do not apply - and we support this - kids have even less than the pathetic legal protection that they currently have.

And for TEACHERS, or THERAPISTS to breach these rules - aaaaarggghhhh - this woman was in loco parentis. Wopuld you so readily defend the kid's mum? Or dad???

The teacher thing makes it even worse.

She is a sexual abuser.

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Nimh,

My words were an "act of satisfying sexual intercourse" not just "sexual intercourse". I refer to physically and emotionally precocious young men who are the same age as some who are still children, not adult, yet quite able to resist sexual battery.

dlowan,

I agree the woman was in loco parentis and that alone is sufficient to place her in serious breach (regardless of age difference). She has broken the law and is an abuser. I still contend that the boy has not necessarily suffered damage. Do you really think we should wait until our brains are mature before engaging in sex , I mean ought we wait until 23. I think common sense, personal experience and the evidence of nature suggest otherwise. I don't want to see a difference. I do believe that sometimes there is a difference.

I am interested in your thoughts about the pathetic legal protection to which you refer. It seems to me that detection and proof are the problem, can we improve this by statute.

Finally to anyone who may read this:

I am not anxious to champion this particular woman. My interest here was provoked by comments in another discussion on this site about a woman who was imprisoned for sexual activity with a young boy. They have two children and are to marry. Note he is now 22 and quite close to the magic 23. There were various comments, some untrue, most just speculative about the sanity of the couple. I discovered that the woman had indeed been diagnosed with severe mental illness which is not surprising considering the behaviour. It happens that my wife has a similar illness and I know firsthand that it is very possible for a thirteen year old to be the dominant partner in a relationship with a person so afflicted.
Whenever I read stories like the one which has provoked this discussion I am inclined to suspect insanity.

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gozmo wrote:

Nimh,

My words were an "act of satisfying sexual intercourse" not just "sexual intercourse".

And I responded that as to whether it was "satisfactory", you dont know skiddle-dee. Thats just a gratuitous speculation you throw in. All we know is they had intercourse, he was 13, she 27. And with him being 13, I furthermore added, the point is that he doesnt know about "satisfactory", really, either - thats why we consider him to be below the age of consent.

gozmo wrote:

I refer to physically and emotionally precocious young men who are the same age as some who are still children, not adult, yet quite able to resist sexual battery.

Sexual abuse doesnt just come in the form of physical violence, and even if a 13-year old boy might be physically strong enough to resist a woman that much older, doesn't mean he is emotionally so.

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Tenn. Teacher Charged With Sexual Battery

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