- Aug 24, 2001
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McMINNVILLE, Tenn. ? One of the four sex acts with a student that teacher Pamela Rogers admitted to yesterday happened in a classroom at Centertown Elementary where she taught, according to a court statement and an interview.
Before yesterday's hearing, no details about Rogers' illegal relationship with a 13-year-old star athlete had been released.
However, prosecutor Dale Potter revealed the incident at the school and said the two also had sex at the teacher's house and at the boy's house while his parents were asleep.
Rogers, a former Warren County elementary school teacher and coach, admitted guilt yesterday on four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure for sex acts with the student at her school.
The teacher, 28, who resigned in February, was sentenced to nine months in the Warren County Jail. She surrenders her state teaching certificate for life, will be a registered sex offender, and will face a series of restrictions to keep her away from schools and children for years.
Circuit Judge Bart Stanley also barred her from granting media interviews for eight years or from profiting by selling her story.
Her no-contest plea avoids a trial that could have sent Rogers to prison for two to 16 years if she had been found guilty of all 28 counts in the February indictment. The plea has the same effect as a guilty plea in court and contains an admission of guilt in the court document she signed.
The plea brings some finality to the teacher-student sex affair that rocked this small Middle Tennessee community when it made national headlines in February.
"I'm just glad to see a conclusion to it," said Warren County Schools Director Jerry Hale. "It's been traumatic for the school and the school system. It is a sad day. Some lives were altered because of this. I'm just glad it's over and we can move on."
Rogers entered court in a brown pin-striped suit with a pink top, carrying a purse. She stood as the judge read the first of four felony counts against her. She struggled to say "nolo contendere."
"I can't even talk," Rogers said. "No contest, sir."
She offered no statement during the hearing.
Afterward, a sheriff's deputy asked her to place her rings and earrings in a brown envelope before handcuffing her in front of her parents and taking her to jail. Her father, Lamar Rogers, is a well-known championship girls basketball coach in Fentress County.
Her attorney, Peter Strianse of Nashville, said the plea agreement was a difficult decision for his client, but that it allowed her to avoid the uncertainty of a trial.
"She's agonized over it for months," Strianse said. "We just felt it's the best way to get the thing resolved and get it behind her, and to give her that measure of control over her future. ...
"Not knowing what a jury would do. Not knowing what a sentencing judge would do. The specter of consecutive sentencing and the Tennessee Prison for Women ? that's where you lose all control over your future."
The boy, who is now in high school, was not in court yesterday, but his parents were sitting in the front row, directly behind Rogers.
Potter said he was not completely happy with the plea agreement. The boy's parents, however, expressed relief to him before the hearing that the episode was almost over, he said.
"They were satisfied with the agreement and satisfied that it's coming to an end," Potter said. "There are a lot of questions they still have that are unanswered, that they would like to know from the defendant as to why it happened ? how it occurred, why she abused the trust they had in her, because they really trusted her. But those are questions they'll probably never get answered."
The remaining 24 counts were dropped, although Potter provided other details during the hearing. He said Rogers and the boy had had sex when she drove him to a high school basketball game that her husband at the time, Chris Rogers, was coaching for Warren County High School.
The illicit relationship started in early November and lasted until approximately mid-January, according to the court records.
The incident at Centertown Elementary occurred in early November during an open gym session, when Rogers took the boy into a nearby classroom and performed oral sex, according to details from Potter and an interview with Hale.
On Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving, according to Potter, Rogers had intercourse with the boy at her home. She also provided him and another "individual" with alcohol that evening, Potter said.
Rogers, who was having marital problems at the time and has since divorced, lived for a brief time with the boy and his family. She and the boy again had intercourse and oral sex on Jan. 14 and 15, at the boy's house, Potter said.
"Neither one of the parents had the slightest idea that anything improper was going on," Potter said in an interview after the hearing. "They trusted her completely, thinking she had the interest of their child at heart, that (she) had the interest of their child in being a better basketball player."
The plea agreement bars Rogers from entering a school during her probation period, except to attend sporting events accompanied by one of her parents.
She is barred during her probation from either teaching or coaching children and has restrictions on her contact with children.
Strianse said she would be looking for another line of work when she gets out of jail, which could be in about seven months with good behavior.
"When this is all over, she will return home to Fentress County, live with her parents in Clarkrange and sort of evaluate her options as to what she wants to do," he said.