Several Female Teachers Accused of Having Sex with Students
12 Feb 1999
Mark Shaffer / The Arizona Republic
Parker teachers accused in sex cases
Female teachers accused of having sex with students
PARKER -- It had been the worst-kept secret in Parker High School.
Ms. Jennifer A. was indicted on three counts of sexual conduct with a minor student two weeks ago.
But an even bigger bomb was on the horizon involving another female teacher in the Parker Unified School District. Ms. Tracey N., 23, a librarian at Le Pera School south of town, was indicted last week on two counts of sexual abuse for reportedly molesting a 13-year-old girl who worked in the library at the school.
Both women were booked and released on their own recognizance, which got tongues wagging again saying that male teachers wouldn't have been treated in such a lenient manner.
It's a cutting-edge issue that has been on the front burners of court cases around the nation which challenge stereotypes of women as victims not perpetrators.
Residents of Parker and La Paz County have certainly had a double standard in the past.
In the late 1980s, a Parker middle-school teacher, 40-year-old Ms. Suzanne Y., had a sexual affair with a 14-year-old boy. She was sentenced to three years' probation.
The judge in the case, Stephen Conn of Mohave County Superior Court, said that "a crime perpetrated by a woman on a male child is not the same as a crime perpetrated by a male on a female child."
In 1997, Ms. Catherine M., a 35-year-old former teacher at Deer Valley High School, got six months for sex with a minor, a former student, at a party in the desert.
This week, Ms. Marian L., 39, former director of a Cave Creek charter school, was given a year in jail and lifetime probation for two counts of attempted sexual contact with two 14-year-old boys.
Judge Michael Wilkinson of Maricopa County Superior Court said that female teachers are treated better than men in sexual molestation cases involving minors.
Mike Thomas, who owns a Parker barber shop, said he doesn't pay too much mind to Ms. A. and the soccer student since, "if that boy was 17 and committed murder, they would consider him an adult. He might as well be considered an adult in this, too.
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