Teacher, 33, convicted of transporting her minor student across state lines during their year-long sexual affair
Teachers having sexual affairs with their not-of-legal-age students is a crime that’s seriously punishable in the courts – but transporting a minor across state lines for the purposes having sex brings with it a whole bunch of additional legal issues. On January 22, Heather Hare, 33, of Conway, Arkansas, a former Bryant High School (Arkansas) teacher, pleaded guilty to transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity.
Transportation of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity is punishable by not less than 10 years imprisonment and up to life imprisonment, and not less than five years of supervised release. ~ U.S. Attorney’s Office
Background: Hare taught Family Consumer Science classes at Bryant High School in Bryant, Arkansas, and met the minor victim on the first day of his senior year. Hare began one-on-one counseling sessions with the minor victim, eventually giving him her personal phone number and primarily communicating with him through Instagram and Snapchat.
Hare later told the minor victim that she had a dream of them having sex and gave him her home address in Conway. The minor victim and Hare had sex approximately 20 to 30 times throughout the 2021-2022 school term, including multiple times at her Conway home, in her vehicle, and in her classroom and parking lots at Bryant High School.
Between April 21 and April 24, 2022, Hare was the sponsor and chaperone for a field trip to Washington, D.C., as part of an extracurricular activity related to the Family Consumer Science courses she taught. During the field trip, which included four students, of which the minor victim was the only male student, Hare and the minor victim engaged in the unlawful sexual activity to which she pleaded guilty.
Hare surrendered herself in April 2023 after various TikTok and Snapchat posts were made alleging her involvement with a student. She was arrested again in July after a second student came forward, leading to investigators seeking additional charges of first-degree sexual assault, the Bryant Police Department stated. ~ The Daily Mail
“This former teacher took advantage of her position of trust and the vulnerability of a minor, using her role to entice and lure this minor into engaging in unlawful sexual activity. Our office will continue to seek significant penalties against any educational professional who sexually abuse their students,” said Jonathan Ross of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Hare was indicted on August 1, 2023, and charged with one count of interstate/foreign travel for prostitution/sexual activity by coercion and one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. In exchange for her guilty plea, the remaining charge was dismissed.
Hare’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.
Video:
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(Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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