Former Bryant High School teacher gets 13-year federal sentence for taking student out of state for sex

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A former Bryant High School teacher will serve more than a decade in federal prison for having sex with a student.

In a Wednesday release, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas said 33-year-old Heather Hare was sentenced to 13 years for transporting a minor across state lines to have sex.

According to the release, investigators found that Hare met the student on the first day of the student’s senior year then started having one-on-one counseling sessions with the student, eventually giving them her phone number and primarily talking with them through Instagram and Snapchat.

Hare eventually told the student that she had a dream of them having sex and gave the victim her home address in Conway. Prosecutors said Hare and the student had sex between 20 to 30 times throughout the 2021-2022 school year, including instances in her classroom and the Bryant High School parking lot.

Between April 22 and 24 in 2022, Hare was a sponsor and chaperone for a field trip to Washington D.C. that the victim had attended with three other students. Federal prosecutors said Hare and the victim had sex during the trip, which she later pleaded guilty to.

Hare was indicted on Aug. 1, 2023, and charged with one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity by coercion and one count of interstate/foreign travel for prostitution/sexual activity. Through a plea deal, the second charge was dropped.

US Attorney Jonathan Ross spoke on the sentencing, adding that it should serve as a warning.

“Teachers who have sex with their minor students should take note of today’s sentence for Ms. Hare which reflects the consequences of abusing her position of trust and taking advantage of the vulnerability of this minor to repeatedly engage in unlawful sexual activity,” Ross said. “Our office will continue to hold accountable those who are in a position of trust that target children and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, as evidenced by Judge Rudofsky sentencing Ms. Hare to 13 years in federal prison.”

United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky also sentenced Hare to a lifetime of supervised release.

In addition to the federal charges, Hare was facing two counts of first-degree sexual assault involving a different Bryant High School student.

Court documents filed Wednesday showed she agreed to a plea deal that would include a 20-year sentence running concurrent to her federal sentence, meaning that after she leaves federal custody she would still serve seven more years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

from KARK https://ift.tt/SprK7kG