Intro
Another day, another story of a teacher alleged to have sexual relations with a student. This time we have a 24-year-old special education teacher accused of renting out a hotel room to engage in these crimes. We break it all down with some facts and legal arguments and opinions that can be considered in the court.
We got another one. Another female special ed teacher slept with a student, accused of having sexual relations with one of her students. It happened in Minnesota, where 24-year-old special education teacher and dance team coach Ann Margaret Bacon at Tartan High School has been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct. This is a felony carrying up to 15 years in prison. She apparently confessed to police that she had sex with an 18-year-old student of hers in a hotel room on five different occasions. Hotel records even confirm the dates that she provided, according to the reporting.
She has also been alleged of buying liquor for school students which is again a crime but not that significant. The way she was arrested was interesting because a witness apparently came forward to the school, talking about what they saw. Bacon was interviewed about this, initially said it wasn’t true, then the teenage boy’s girlfriend said she found all of these sexualized text messages and nude photos exchanged between him and Bacon. There were allegedly pictures of Bacon drinking with these minors.
Once the school and the school resource officer found out about what was going on, they alerted the police. This teenage victim said to police that he’s in a relationship with Bacon and even stays at her place, although Bacon says they are no longer dating.
How Serious This Case is? Let’s Find Out!
Well, when we look at these, the charges are really serious. They really are. When you talk about a felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge just by itself, it’s potentially up to 15 years, but it’s a presumptive 48 months in prison. That’s a presumption for a charge like this.
There’s also something else that rolls out of this kind of charge that most people forget about. If you’re convicted in Minnesota of any charge that arises from this, let’s say hypothetically she’s even found guilty of child endangerment tied to this and nothing more, she can be registered as a sex offender for up to 10 years. Now remember, he was 18, so he was 18 at the time. This is basically about what’s called in Minnesota a position of authority because of where she was. Because she was in this position, we obviously don’t want teachers to prey on kids. This guy wasn’t a kid, but because he was a student, we have decided here that we can’t have teachers, rightfully so, preying on anybody who is a student and in a position to look up to this person. So it’s a pretty weird one.
So in other words, the reason she is charged under this statute, which is usually for these kinds of relations that people would have with minors, you can be charged under this even though he wasn’t a minor because of that position of authority. And I’m assuming a teacher is not the only kind of category?
This can be teachers, this might be lawyers, this might be church leaders, people like that. People that someone looks up to in society in that sense, those people are in unique positions.
Understand that it’s possible that she could have had sex with somebody else who was in that very same position, so long as she wasn’t in a position of authority. In Minnesota, the law is so long as you are not in a position of authority, you have the right, obviously with someone agreeing to this, to have sex with somebody who’s 16 or 17 years old here in Minnesota.
In this case, apparently the ex-girlfriend found pictures on his ex-boyfriend’s phone, and it means she simply accused the teacher out of her grudge to get revenge. According to the law in the region, you can have sex with a 16 or 17-year-old as long as you’re not in a position of authority.
Well, realistically that CSC3 charge is coming out specifically because of that position of authority. They just ramped up the charges right before a jury was impaneled, before a jury was sat. So they had already made the case much more severe. They just upped the charges in this case. And sometimes what they’ll do is add additional charges. We could certainly see a child endangerment charge that could roll out of this if it hasn’t already been added to the complaint here in Minnesota. But the big one, the one that they really wanted right now, was CSC3.
This took place in Ramsey County and here once you get the charge, that is almost all you need to get the case in your way. If you get any kind of a conviction, any kind of anything, and I assume that’s what’s going to happen. The reason I assume is I wonder, even though she admitted to doing this or allegedly admitted to doing this, if this victim was her student at one point in time, but let’s say hypothetically wasn’t her student at the time this sexual conduct happened, does that change the analysis? It might.
When you say position of authority, how is it a position of authority? Because it was in her class? Well, okay, that I get it. But what happens if they weren’t in the class? What happens if they were just in school? Is that still a position of authority? If you’re a teacher, that teacher position, the student position stretches even beyond schools sometimes. Depends upon the judge, but it’s possible that you could sever that relationship enough that the position of authority would not apply. And the only thing that makes this the crime, excluding alcohol for a second, but the only thing that makes this the crime really is that position of authority.
If the lawyer and accused could sever it, then really what you get is she was having sex with an 18-year-old. Remember, an 18-year-old’s legal, a 17-year-old is legal here, a 16-year-old technically is even legal. Weird, but there it is. So as long as a person is not in the position of authority or a title that people look up to like a pastor, you can have sex with a student in school who is 16 years or older. Two students who are 16 years old can have sex together without any legal trouble at all in Minnesota.
Evidence has been collected like the hotel records line up with the dates that she gave. But also, you know, she denied supplying alcohol to these teenagers but then said, “Oh yeah, there’s this $40 Venmo payment that was labeled ‘Liqq.'” She had apparently told authorities that she couldn’t recall what the payment was for or who it was sent to.
Evidence
We mentioned earlier the photos and the text messages have been provided to the police. It’s very hard to argue against this actually being the case.
Perspective of a Defense Attorney
I can tell you one other aspect of it. As I thought about this, and this is sort of the criminal defense attorney in me, here is a perfect example to understand. According to the 18-year-old, who may be 19 now, they’re dating and he stays with her some of the time. This came out because of the ex-girlfriend, and that seemed to be part of this.
From a defense attorney perspective, do you really think they would have gotten cooperation out of that kid, out of the 18-19-year-old? I doubt it. If she had not said a word to the police, if she had actually said, “I have nothing to say without my attorney present,” they wouldn’t have been able to get those statements. They may not have been able to get the hotel records. All they have is an ex-girlfriend who’s saying those two are having sex. And the thing is, this case may never have been charged out.
School Responsibility
Apparently, one of these witnesses had come forward originally months before, saying that she knew of this or this person knew about this relationship but didn’t have concrete proof. The reason I say that to you is this: I’m curious about the liability of the school because Bethany Descent, the principal of the high school, sent out a statement to the staff and the students. It said, “I am writing to inform you of the recent resignation of a Tartan teacher, Anne Bacon. We’ve been informed by local law enforcement that Anne Bacon is being investigated for alleged misconduct. Please be assured that the trust and safety of our students remain our utmost priority. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation and will continue to do so throughout the process. We understand that this news affects our school community. School counselors and administrators are available for any students needing support.”
Now, again, keep that in mind with what I said before. If you had somebody who came forward to the school originally, I think back in July, but didn’t have concrete proof of this illicit relationship, then come back and report Bacon in February because this person was concerned that Bacon was still teaching. Did the school have an obligation to do more? I think probably the school could face liability regardless of them removing her immediately. Part of this is going to be the idea that they hired her in the first place. Because you’re making the argument that she’s essentially, in the broader sense, a pedophile. And did she receive sufficient training? Did they retain her appropriately? There are a whole series of questions that come up, and the likelihood is technically, if you’re going to sue, they would be suing. This would be technically the 18-year-old, think about that, and his family suing her and the school. So, that would not surprise me. This happens constantly, not just in Minnesota but across the country.
Gender of the Teacher
What makes this case slightly different, obviously, is the gender of the teacher. People have this vision in their head of what predators look like, predatory offenders look like, and very simply, we’ve come to realize that they come in all shapes and sizes and genders. As a result, the generalization simply does not work.
Sentencing
We talk about that all the time. You know, there’s this kind of perception, “Oh, you know, a young boy with a female teacher.” It is totally wrong. They are victims. They may not realize the trauma that they’re experiencing and what effect this might have on them now, but later on in life. We’ve seen so many stories about how this affects them, and this is a crime. So, we have to be very clear: it is a crime.
Let’s talk about if she were to plead guilty or if she were to take this to trial and be found guilty for this charge, what are we looking at in terms of prison time? We mentioned it a little bit, about what the minimum could be, what the maximum could be. So let’s see what we think we’re looking at here?
Potential Sentence
Well, the max in a case like this is 15 years on a criminal sexual conduct in the third degree, and this has to do with that position of authority. According to the sentencing guidelines in Minnesota, what they generally look at is the seriousness of the charge as well as any criminal record. Assuming that she has no criminal record, so she has zero criminal record right now, generally, third-degree charges, depending upon what it is, she’s likely facing a presumptive 48-month commit to prison.
Sixteen and seventeen-year-olds are often charged as adults for rape, suggesting that it’s not fair to say someone in a similar situation is protected or seen as a vulnerable victim. The point is that while the person might be vulnerable, this could influence the outcome of the case.
Possible Outcomes
This case will be handled by the judiciary of Ramsey County and there it’s likely what you may see is a lesser included, or you may see an agreement for what’s called local time, which means you’d serve time not in prison but in the local county jail, and that means less than one year. So, she could see jail time, I think regardless, and that’s actually true. But that doesn’t change the fact that she’s still going to have to register as a sexual predator for the next 10 years. She’s going to have that label stamped on her forehead.
Conclusion
In this article, we successfully discussed the whole case of the Tartan High School Ann Bacon, a gorgeous female teacher alleged to have sex with a 18 years old student outside the school.
