Camella Rodgers, a 45-year-old former Mount Vernon teacher, has pled guilty to two felony charges after she had a sexual relationship with an underage high school student.
Rodgers pled guilty to one count of child seduction — a level 5 felony — and one count of child seduction — a level 6 felony. Rodgers allegedly had sex with an underage female student “multiple times”. She is due for sentencing at 8 a.m. on June 28 in Posey Circuit Court.
Rodgers resigned from her job as a fifth-grade teacher at Farmersville Elementary School in December, approximately a month before a warrant was issued for her arrest.
via Courier & Press:
In Indiana, someone commits child seduction if they engage in any sexual activity with a child over 16 but under 18 when the suspect is in a position of supervision or trust over a child, such as a teacher.
According to Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers, there was no plea agreement in place. That means Rodgers entered her plea without any limit on the length of her sentence or conditions about serving probation instead of time behind bars.
The affidavit outlines how the teacher and the victim knew each other, but the Courier & Press is not reporting that information to protect the identity of the victim. Rodgers was scheduled to go to trial June 27, but that trial was canceled after she entered a guilty plea.
Rodgers is just the latest teacher to be charged for an alleged relationship with a teenager student. Over the course of just a few months, educators across the country were arrested for entering into an inappropriate relationship with their students, Tennessee teacher Janet Smothers, LaToya Parker, Florida teacher Caroline Lawson, 26-year-old Allyson Moran and Katherine Ross Ridenhour were all arrested on similar charges.
The list goes on to include 22-year-old Oklahoma science teacher Hunter Day, 28-year-old teacher Megan Kotarski, 23-year-old history teacher Michelle Schiffer, 29-year-old Alyssia Marie Reddy, special education teacher Jordan Ondish and 28-year-old Samantha Fitzpatrick have all been allegedly carrying on inappropriate relationships with their students.
In addition, 31-year-old Nicole Marie Andrews, 32-year-old Jessica Langford, 29-year-old Andrea Baber, 27-year-old Robin Dunlap, 27-year-old Jennifer Olajire-Aro have also been charged with these charges.
34-year-old Miranda Nicole Pauley was charged with similar crimes, Nancy Leigh Ann Brann, a former Christian school teacher, was arrested for having sex with a student, Coine Audiat pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in 2016 and 23-year-old Darci Lake was arrested for an inappropriate relationship. 27-year-old Brittany Zamora from Arizona was arrested on similar charges. Keri Hoffman, 35, was also arrested for an alleged relationship with a student. More recently, 29-year-old Tiffany Ranweiler-Oblander and 33-year-old Maren Oates were arrested on similar charges.
