Notorious teacher sex scandals

- March 02, 2024

Sarah Fowlkes is seen in a police booking photo provided to CBS affiliate KEYE-TV. — KEYE-TV

Reports of teachers accused of unlawful sexual relationships with their students continue to make headlines. Here are some of the stories covered in recent years.

Lockhart, Texas, police said Sarah Fowlkes, a 27-year-old high school teacher, had an improper relationship with a 17-year-old student. She turned herself in after a warrant was issued for her arrest in March 2017.

Stephanie Peterson

Stephanie Peterson, a former middle school teacher, was arrested in February 2018 for allegedly having a secret sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy, police said.

The teen told investigators in Volusia County, Florida, that Peterson, 26, would give him marijuana.

Peterson, also known as Stephanie Ferri, faced three criminal counts.

Sarah Jones

In 2012, Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader-turned-teacher Sarah Jones pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student. Jones taught at Dixie Heights High School in northern Kentucky.

She avoided jail time as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Debra Lafave

Debra Lafave, a reading teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida, was charged in 2004 with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a person under 16 for having sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Lafave pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years house arrest and seven years probation.

Debra Lafave

A judge ultimately granted Lafave early release from her sex offender probation after she gave birth to twin boys in 2011. But Lafave was still required to register as a sex offender.

Alexandria Vera

Texas middle school English teacher Alexandria Vera, 24, turned herself in to authorities June 1, 2016, after a warrant was issued on a child sex abuse charge.

Court documents allege Vera had a nine-month sexual relationship with a 13-year-old male student, who authorities say impregnated her.

Cori Beard

An Illinois high school soccer coach was accused in March 2018 of sexually assaulting three students.

Authorities said 28-year-old Cori Beard, a part-time assistant coach for both the boys and girls soccer teams, was allegedly involved in "unlawful sexual acts with three current Vernon Hills High School boys." She was charged with 12 counts of criminal sexual assault.

Hunter Day

An Oklahoma high-school teacher was arrested for allegedly having sex with a male student, after authorities said evidence was found on the boy's phone.

The teacher, Hunter Day, age 22, faces second-degree rape, possession of child pornography and other charges.

Day, who is reportedly married to one of the school's football coaches, was arrested in November 2017 and booked on an $85,000 bond.

Alaina Ferguson

In 2016, Alaina Ferguson, 23, was charged with sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy. He allegedly told police that the relationship was sparked by a note he left on an algebra test in which he wrote his Snapchat user name.

Carrie McCandless

In 2007, Carrie McCandless reportedly pleaded guilty to sexual contact with a 17-year-old student in Colorado. The former Brighton Collegiate High School teacher had been chaperoning a school camping trip.

Stacey Dean Rambold

In 2013, Stacey Dean Rambold pleaded guilty in connection with the 2007 rape of a 14-year-old girl. The teen committed suicide in 2010 while the case was pending.

During sentencing, the judge sparked outrage by suggesting the victim shared some responsibility and "appeared older than her chronological age." He initially gave Rambold a 15-year term with all but one month suspended, but that decision was later overruled.

Rambold was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Carrie McCandless

The 29-year-old was sentenced to 45 days in jail, five years of probation and a four-year deferred sentence.

Her probation was eventually revoked and she was sentenced to an additional 60 days in 2011. She remains a registered sex offender.

Brianne Altice

Brianne Altice, a former Utah high school English teacher, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three teenage boys who had been students.

Altice was initially free on bail after her 2013 arrest, but was jailed after allegations emerged that she continued a sexual relationship with one of the boys.

Virginia Houston Hinckley

Virginia Houston Hinckley, a 26-year-old St. Augustine, Fla. high school teacher, was charged with having unlawful sexual activity with a 16-year-old boy in 2015.

The two exchanged nude photos, according to the student, and allegedly had sex in a park.

Nicole Dufault

ESSEX COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE VIA CBS NEW YORK

Language arts teacher Nicole Dufault, 35, of New Jersey, was charged with sexually assaulting 14- and 15-year-old boys in 2013 and 2014. They say some of the sex acts occurred on school property.

Dufault sought twice in 2016 to have the indictment against her dismissed, but a court ruled each time the charges should stand.

Mikey Henderson

Mikey Henderson, 32, a math teacher and assistant football coach at a high school in suburban Atlanta's Gwinnett County, was arrested and charged with sexual assault after allegedly having inappropriate contact with a student in May 2017.

Henderson played football for the University of Georgia from 2003 to 2007.

Kathryn Ronk

A former teacher at a Detroit-area high school accused of having sex with a 15-year-old student was sentenced to 6 to 15 years in prison in 2015.

Authorities said Kathryn Ronk, 30, engaged in sexual acts with the teenager in classrooms at Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights.

Melody Lippert & Michelle Ghirell

o-c-teachers-arrested-for-allegedly-having-sex-with-students.jpg — ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT. VIA CBS LOS ANGELES

Melody Lippert, 38, and Michelle Ghirelli, 30, were sentenced to probation after having sex with students on a November 2014 beach trip in California.

Both Lippert and Ghirelli worked at South Hills High School, located outside of Los Angeles.

Teacher accused of having sex in car with student

Police in Florida arrested Port St. Lucie High School teacher Tiffany Michelle Geliga in May 2017 after a 17-year-old male student alleged the two had sex in her car on two separate occasions.

Danielle Watkins

Danielle Watkins, a 32-year-old teacher from Connecticut, pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a student in 2014. Her 18-year-old victim reportedly told police that when he tried to break off the relationship, Watkins assaulted him and threatened to fail him.

Stacy Schuler

Notorious teacher sex scandals — WARREN COUNTY JAIL

Stacy Schuler, a 33-year-old high school health teacher from southwest Ohio, was convicted of having sex with five students in 2011.

According to The Middletown Journal newspaper, a former high school football player testified that he and a friend had sex with Schuler at her home.

She was sentenced to four years in prison but was reportedly granted early release in 2012 after serving about a year.

Brittni Colleps

Brittni Colleps, a 28-year-old Texas teacher, was sentenced to five years in prison after having sex with students in her Arlington home in 2012.

Megan Crafton

Megan Crafton of Indiana was sentenced to probation after a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male student.

The part-time assistant cheerleading coach at Shelbyville High School admitted to performing oral sex on the teen in her car in January 2012.

Carole Ann Hope

Police arrested 36-year-old South Carolina teacher Carole Ann Hope in 2011 after she allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old former middle-school student.

Hope was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the spring of 2014.

Ashley Anderson

Ashley Anderson, a high school teacher in Iowa, was sentenced to up to five years in prison for inappropriate sexual relationships with four male students in 2011.

The teacher, then 24, sent students nude photographs of herself and had sex with one student at his home, according to a complaint.

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