Pamela Joan Rogers
{{short description|American former teacher and sex offender}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Pamela Joan Rogers
| image_name =
| image_size = 288 x 337 px
| image_caption = Pamela Rogers
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1977|7|1}}
| birth_place = Tennessee, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| charge = Statutory rape, Sexual battery, Solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor, Introduction of contraband into a penal facility
| conviction_penalty = Imprisoned: 2005, 2006–2012, 2015–2016{{cite web | url=https://sor.tbi.tn.gov/details/00396311 | title=Sex Offender Registry }}
| conviction_status =
| alma_mater = Tennessee Technological University
Cumberland University
| occupation = Former teacher
| spouse = Christopher Turner (2003–2005; divorced)
|
}}
Pamela Joan Rogers (born July 1, 1977), better known under her former married name Pamela Rogers Turner, is an American sex offender and a former elementary school physical education teacher and coach who taught in McMinnville, Tennessee. She was convicted of four counts of sexual battery in 2005 and two counts of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor in 2006 stemming from a three-month relationship with a 13-year-old boy who was her student at Centertown Elementary School. Her case made headlines and was covered by major news networks for being a notorious teacher who had an unlawful sexual relationship with one of her students.{{cite news |title=Notorious teacher sex scandals |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/notorious-teacher-sex-scandals/ |access-date=18 January 2022 |agency=CBS News |date=14 March 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=2195810&page=1|title=Ex-Teacher Sent Back to Jail for Sexy Messages|website=ABC News}} After getting released in 2012, she was taken into custody in 2015 for allegedly conspiring to smuggle contraband cell phones into a state prison and sentenced to eight years in prison; her case brought headlines and national attention to the practice of cellphone smuggling in prison.{{Cite web|url=https://www.actionnews5.com/clip/11568629/former-teacher-who-had-sex-with-13-year-old-student-back-behind-bars/|title=Former teacher who had sex with 13-year-old student, back behind bars |date=5 June 2015 }}
Early life
Born on July 1, 1977, Rogers attended [https://www.fentressboe.com/o/chs Clarkrange High School] where she was a part of the Clarkrange basketball team; Lady Buffalos, which gained some local success during her time on the team with her dad; Lamar Rogers, being the head coach of the team.https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/inside-pamela-rogers/article_8fd34bc9-12d0-5f5c-b395-9e69514a3479.html Inside Pamela Rogers When she graduated in 1995, for her senior year prom she was picked as prom queen. She subsequently attended Tennessee Technological University and Cumberland University, playing basketball for both.[https://wcfcourier.com/news/breaking_news/tenn-community-s-image-of-teacher-shattered-by-charges-of/article_fdefc562-af63-5dd8-ac74-b788c1eb49fe.html Tenn. community's image of teacher shattered by charges of sex with 13-year-old student | News | wcfcourier.com] Also around that time, she was also featured as "Miss Nitro" WCW Monday Nitro eventhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185130/characters/nm7133115 and around 2002, did some bikini modelling for various gigs including newspaper advertisement for Harley-Davidsonhttps://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/mary-kay-letourneau-vili-fualauu-relationship-media-child-rape-tryst-1025466/ How the Media Turned Child Rape Into a ‘Tryst’ for Mary Kay Letourneau for a local motorcycle shop.https://nypost.com/2005/02/13/inside-her-affair-with-student-13/ INSIDE HER ‘AFFAIR’ WITH STUDENT, 13
She married high school basketball coach Christopher Turner in 2003. They separated in 2004 due to marital difficulties and he filed for divorce in January 2005.{{cite web | url = http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2938884 | title = Attorney says divorce not related to marriage breakup | work = AP | accessdate = 2006-08-26| url-status = usurped | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20050312172849/http://www.volunteertv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2938884| archivedate = March 12, 2005}}
First crime and criminal prosecution
On February 4, 2005, Rogers was charged with 15 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and 13 counts of statutory rapehttps://thesmokinggun.com/file/another-teacher-nabbed-student-sex Another Teacher Nabbed For Student Sex;
Gym instructor, 27, charged with raping boy, 13 stemming from a three-month relationship with a teenage boy who was her student in the basketball class where they engaged in vaginal intercourse,https://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/another-teacher-nabbed-student-sex?page=4 oral sex; both fellatiohttps://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/another-teacher-nabbed-student-sex?page=2 and cunnilingus,https://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/another-teacher-nabbed-student-sex?page=5 as well as digital penetrationhttps://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/another-teacher-nabbed-student-sex?page=3 at his home, at her apartment, and even at the school’s gym on more than 12 different occasions.https://nypost.com/2005/02/13/inside-her-affair-with-student-13/ INSIDE HER ‘AFFAIR’ WITH STUDENT, 13
The relationship allegedly began sometime in early November 2004 when the student; who was attending Rogers' PE/Basketball class began flirting with Rogers and making sexual suggestions. Rogers, in the midst of an estranged marriage which during the relationship with the student for a separate reason would end in divorce, allegedly enjoyed the attention and entertained the student’s advances.
The point when the relationship with the student became sexual was when during a phone text message exchange with the student with the student’s friend present. At one point Rogers texted to the student “I think you’re cute”. Mixed with excitement, hesitation, and disbelief, the student allegedly looked to his friend for advice on what to write back, before texting back “I think you’re hot”.https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/inside-pamela-rogers/article_8fd34bc9-12d0-5f5c-b395-9e69514a3479.html Inside Pamela Rogers;
A Nashville psychologist with access to the disgraced teacher offers insight and from that point onward, the relationship was sexual. The student who at the time had a girlfriend of the same age upon first meeting Rogers decided to terminate the relationship with his girlfriend to be with Rogers.https://nypost.com/2005/02/13/inside-her-affair-with-student-13/ INSIDE HER ‘AFFAIR’ WITH STUDENT, 13 At some point shortly after the relationship became sexual, while the student’s friend was visiting his school with another friend of his & meeting up with Rogers, Rogers revealed to the student's friend that she & the student indeed had sex while they were in the school gymhttps://nypost.com/2005/02/13/inside-her-affair-with-student-13/ INSIDE HER ‘AFFAIR’ WITH STUDENT, 13 and that friend noticed that shortly after Rogers began becoming more infatuated with his friend; the student, with Rogers regularly calling the student up to 5-6 times a night.
When the divorce was finalized on January 14, Rogers moved out of the house she was staying in with her now ex-husband and rented an apartment. However, at one point during the rental process, the water heater in her apartment allegedly broke down. The student’s mother, seeing Rogers as a family friend & completely oblivious to the sexual nature of her son’s relationship with Rogers, opened up their house for Rogers to stay in. Hesitant at first but enjoying the attention she gets from the student, Rogers obliged. And after that, Rogers & the student engaged in sex at the student’s home, at her apartment, and even at school; including the school gymnasium.
Throughout the three months period Rogers and the student were having sex, Rogers and the student would spend night and day together, hanging out together around town, walking him to his family’s car after basketball games, sitting besides him during sporting events, and cheering exclusively for him when he played. The relationship attracted a lot of unwarranted attention especially within such a small town and it was only a matter of time before the police were tipped off about their illegal relationship.
On August 12, 2005, Rogers pleaded no contest to four charges of sexual battery by an authority figure as part of a deal with the prosecution.{{Cite web|title=Teacher goes to jail for sleeping with student|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8925268|access-date=2021-02-02|website=NBC News|date=12 August 2005 |language=en}} She was given an eight-year suspended sentence, during which she was to serve 270 days in the Warren County jail in Tennessee followed by seven years and three months of probation.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} She was also ordered to surrender her teaching certificate and register as a sex offender for life because sexual battery by an authority figure is a "violent sexual offense" under the law of the state of Tennessee.{{Cite web|url=http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-40/chapter-39/part-2/40-39-202|title = 2010 Tennessee Code :: Title 40 – Criminal Procedure :: Chapter 39 – Sexual Offender Registration and Monitoring :: :: Part 2 – Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act of 2004 :: :: 40-39-202 – Part definitions}} The sentence prohibited her from profiting from the case through books and movies as well as barring her from granting interviews for eight years.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
=Additional offenses=
Rogers was arrested again on April 24, 2006, on the grounds that she had sent text messages, nude photos, and sex videos of herself to the same boy while using her father's cellphone. She was also charged for communicating with the boy via blogs and a website.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} The judge ordered Rogers to remain in jail until her next court hearing. On July 14, 2006, she was sentenced to seven years in prison for violating her probation by sending explicit videos to her former victim and maintaining contact with him via online blogs. Rogers asked for mercy and apologized to her family and the teen's family, saying tearfully to the judge, "I have humiliated myself. What I did was wrong, I am willing to do anything to rehabilitate myself." She asked for local incarceration with therapy. Circuit Judge Bart Stanley denied her request saying, "You have done everything except show this court that you wanted to rehabilitate yourself." He revoked Rogers's probation and ordered her to serve the rest of a seven-year prison sentence at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center.{{cite web | title =Ex-teacher goes to jail for nude photos | url = http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4048393.html | accessdate = 2006-07-15 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060719235511/http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4048393.html| archivedate = July 19, 2006}}
Rogers received two additional years of prison time in January 2007, after she pleaded guilty to sending nude photos of herself to the boy.{{cite news|title=Teacher's Obsession Costs Her Two More Years in Jail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070110.wteachr0110/BNStory/International/home |accessdate=2007-01-13 |location=Toronto |work=The Globe and Mail |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070114001833/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070110.wteachr0110/BNStory/International/home |archivedate=January 14, 2007 }} She was released in 2012.
Second crime and prosecution
On May 28, 2015, Rogers was indicted by a grand jury for introduction of contraband into a state penal facility and arrested, having allegedly conspired with two others to smuggle cell phones into the state prison where she had previously been incarcerated.{{cite web |last1=Hays |first1=DeAnn |title=Former teacher Pamela Rogers accused trying to get cell phones into prison |url=https://www.wkrn.com/news/former-teacher-pamela-rogers-accused-trying-to-get-cell-phones-into-prison/ |website=WKRN.com |date=4 June 2015}} She was sentenced to eight years in prison and was released between 2024-2027.{{Cite web |title=Inmate Locator of the state of Tennessee |url=https://foil.app.tn.gov/foil/details.jsp |access-date=2023-06-17 |website=foil.app.tn.gov}}{{cite web |date=30 July 2017 |title=Investigation continues regarding man charged with rape |url=http://1057news.com/2017/07/30/11/11/36/investigation-continues-regarding-man-charged-with-rape-his-sister-previously-convicted-of-sex-crimes/ |access-date=18 January 2022 |website=1057News |archive-date=6 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106193650/http://1057news.com/2017/07/30/11/11/36/investigation-continues-regarding-man-charged-with-rape-his-sister-previously-convicted-of-sex-crimes/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |date=26 July 2017 |title=Man Arrested on Rape Charge Involving Juvenile |url=https://www.newschannel5.com/news/local-news/man-arrested-on-rape-charge-involving-juvenile}}
In 2016, Rogers was featured in the Headline News segment Twisted: Teachers Who Prey.{{cite news|title=Twisted: Teachers Who Prey|url=https://vimeo.com/156183241}}
See also
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
- [https://apps.tn.gov/foil-app/search.jsp Felony Offender Information] TOMIS ID: 00396311
- [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jail-for-teacher-in-sex-case/ Jail For Teacher In Sex Case] Aug. 12, 2005
{{Sexual ethics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Pamela Rogers}}
Category:American people convicted of child sexual abuse
Category:Schoolteachers from Tennessee
Category:American women educators
Category:People from McMinnville, Tennessee
Category:Prisoners and detainees of Tennessee
Category:School sexual abuse scandals
Category:Sex scandals in the United States
Category:21st-century American criminals
Category:American female criminals
Category:Tennessee Technological University alumni