Tennessee teacher accused
From Brian Todd
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pamela R. Turner, a 27-year-old gym teacher at Centertown Elementary School in central Tennessee, was arrested this week, accused of having a sexual relationship with a 13-year old student.
"We've got 15 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure based on the position as a teacher and that she had with this student at Centertown Elementary School. There's 13 counts of statutory rape," said Warren County District Attorney Dale Potter.
If convicted, she could face more than 100 years in jail.
The Warren County District Attorney tells CNN the relationship began last November and ended in January.
Does this seem familiar?
CNN reported recently on the case of Debra Lafave, the 24-year-old remedial reading teacher facing trial in two Florida jurisdictions for allegedly having sex with a then-14-year-old boy from her middle school.
Her attorney is pursuing an insanity defense.
"Debbie has some profound emotional issues that are not her fault. I think once anyone reads what the doctors have to say, they will understand a lot more," said Lafave's attorney John Fitzgibbons.
He wouldn't comment when CNN inquired about those issues.
Psychiatrists and psychologists tell CNN that attraction to danger is a common theme in these cases -- along with immaturity on the part of the teacher. One psychologist says they become almost emotionally on-par with the student.
In a taped phone conversation between Lafave and her alleged victim, released by Florida prosecutors, Lafave asks the student to make a "pinky promise."
Experts say, some female teachers see themselves as nurturers, blocking out the idea an affair is wrong or illegal. And they often play into cultural stereotypes that women are incapable of victimizing children, like a male teacher who preys on a female student.
