Teacher Smackdown

UPDATE to Teacher Kelsey Peterson Caught in Mexico After Kidnapping 13-Year-Old Student

Kelsey Peterson, 25, the Nebraska middle school teacher who fled to Mexico with her 13-year-old student, Fernando Rodriguez, has agreed to be returned from California to Nebraska. She faces federal charges that she fled to Mexico for the purpose of having sex with the boy.

It is expected that Peterson will be sent back to Nebraska to face federal charges of crossing state lines to have sex with a minor. The offense is punishable by 10 years to life in prison. Peterson also faces several charges in state court including felony kidnapping and child abuse. Peterson will not be prosecuted in both federal and state court, but a decision on which court will handle the case has not yet been made. (I am hoping for federal court since she fled through several states into a foreign country.)

It is not know when she will return to Nebraska from El Centro, California where she is being held without bail since she is a flight risk. Meanwhile, back in Lexington, Nebraska school officials were taking steps to fire Peterson from her math teaching position. The school board was asked to cancel her teaching contract for violation of ethical standards.

Boy May Be Granted a Special Sex Crime Victim Visa

Rodriguez told the Associated Press that he only had sex twice with Peterson and that he considers his teacher his best friend and not his girlfriend. Rodriguez is staying at a family friend’s home in Janitzio, Mexico. The boy is a Mexican national who is in the United States illegally with his family.

However, he may be able to return to the United States under a new visa the government began granting the week before he vanished. This visa helps illegal immigrants who are victims of sex crimes. If Rodriguez, who grew up in Nebraska and speaks only English and a little Spanish qualifies, he could stay legally in the United States for four years. Eventually he could apply for permanent residency. The visa would extend temporary residency to his parents and his unmarried siblings under 18.

The boy said he would be willing to return to the United States to testify against Peterson.

More Details About the Relationship

According to friends and family members, Peterson and Rodriguez were in a relationship for about a year. His family found e-mails and letter correspondence between the two. Fernando had called the teacher his “Baby Girl” and Peterson told the boy she was “100 percent” in love with him.

Eventually Peterson decided to flee to Mexico with the boy to visit visit Penjamo, a town in the central Mexico where his father lives and where he was born.

Nebraska police and eventually the FBI tracked the pair’s movements via financial transactions, cell phone calls, and text messages. They were also caught on a convenience store survelliance tape in Denver. Finally after three days on the run, Mexican police working with the FBI arrested the pair just across the boarder in Mexicali, Mexico.