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Did we hear about this one here yet?

Teacher busted on sex charges

Blonde beauty faces 13 counts of statutory rape with teen

By Jake Easton
R A D O K N E W S
Posted: February 8, 2005 3:12pm EST
Updated: February 24, 2005 12:04pm EST

MCMINNVILLE, Tenn. - Authorities have arrested a female teacher from a Warren County, Tennessee school, charging her with having an ongoing sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy. Pamela Rogers Turner was charged this week with 15 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and 13 counts of statutory rape.

The 27-year-old Turner is a graduate of Tennessee Tech University with a degree in education. Bobby Cox, director of instruction for Warren County schools, said Turner had been a teacher in the Warren County system for about 1½ years. She taught physical education and worked with all grades at the K-8 grade school in McMinnville.

Prosecutor Dale Potter says some of incidents were alleged to have taken place at the school - others at the student's home. Potter says his office intends to prosecute the case to the fullest extent possible because it involves a child.

Turner is currently free on $50,000 bond, and has been placed on leave by the school system, with an arraignment set for Feb. 23.

Pamela's father, Lamar Rogers, has been the girls basketball coach at Clarkrange High School for 29 years, winning his first state champsionship in 1983, and coached his daughter Pamela's team to the state title in 1995.

Pamela Joan Rogers married Christopher Turner on July 26, 2003. Turner is currently in the process of a divorce from her husband, who is head coach for the Warren County High School boys varsity basketball team in McMinnville.

Conviction on all counts could be punished by up to 100 years in prison, although it is unlikely given her gender. At her court hearing on February 23, Pamela Rogers Turner's lawyer entered a plea of Not Guilty, unlike another teacher with similar troubles - Debra Lafave, who is expected to use an insanity defense.

A judge in McMinnville, Tennessee has set a November 15th trial date for Turner.

IMPORTANT: All the recent media stories on various charges and indictments of teachers are just that, charges - not convictions. It is important to keep an open mind and learn the facts of the case(s) in a court of law before coming to any conclusions of guilt. It would not be the first time overly-zealous prosecutors were wrong.