# UPDATE: 2 female teachers 3-some with 16 y/o male student



## BradWesley (May 24, 2013)

This story was followed with much interest on TAM back in October of last year. 

On April 9th, one of the defendants, Shelley Dufrense, accepted a plea bargain. With the plea, the carnal knowledge with a minor charge was dropped. She was convicted of one count of obscenity. There will be no jail time. She must admit herself to a mental institution for a 90 day period, plus three years probation.

Remember, her father is a sitting judge in St. Charles parish. There's no doubt that he wasn't going to allow the state to send his little girl up to the big house for at least 3 years. I believe that he called in whatever markers and favors it took, to get it done.

Question is, what does her husband do? According to reports, they are still married. Does he file for D, or does he stay with her.

The other defendant, Rachel Respess, has her court date coming up, if she doesn't accept a plea.

Also, charges are still pending in Jefferson parish, where the last threesome occurred back in Sept. 2014, at Respess's apartment.

Edit: She also had her teaching license revoked, and cannot supervise anyone under 18 y/o


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## richardsharpe (Jul 8, 2014)

Good evening
I think we need to change the age of consent.


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## coffee4me (Feb 6, 2013)

richardsharpe said:


> Good evening
> I think we need to change the age of consent.


What age do you think it should be changed to?


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## PhillyGuy13 (Nov 29, 2013)

richardsharpe said:


> Good evening
> I think we need to change the age of consent.


What bugs me primarily isn't his age. It's the fact that these two women were teachers at his school. I find it heinous for a teacher to have sexual contact with any students at the school, regardless of age and regardless of gender. It should be a felony and loss of job. 

Teachers, to me, have an inherent responsibility to protect children. Fair or unfair, they should be held to a higher standard than the rest of society.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tom67 (Oct 2, 2012)

She still may have charges in Jefferson parish.


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## richardsharpe (Jul 8, 2014)

Good evening 
I think 15-16 would be a more reasonable absolute-cutoff age of consent (eg, someone under that age cannot consent under any conditions - they are a CHILD).

Between that age and 18, I would look only prosecute if the "victim" wanted to prosecute. It also might be a considerably lesser crime.

Of course rape, molestation, and other non consensual actions would remain highly illegal.

BTW - I don't think its "OK" to have sex with someone under 18, but I think there should be a lot of range between "OK" and felony sex offense.


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## larry.gray (Feb 21, 2011)

PhillyGuy13 said:


> What bugs me primarily isn't his age. It's the fact that these two women were teachers at his school. I find it heinous for a teacher to have sexual contact with any students at the school, regardless of age and regardless of gender. It should be a felony and loss of job.
> 
> Teachers, to me, have an inherent responsibility to protect children. Fair or unfair, they should be held to a higher standard than the rest of society.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Washington state has a 16 y/o age of consent, but recently added a law that a teacher is committing rape if it is a student even if that student is over 18.

We share a media market with SW Washington so I regularly see WA relevant news. They just had a 30 something teacher busted with a 17 y/o student. He was willing to lie to protect her, but they eventually found physical evidence and he came clean.


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## larry.gray (Feb 21, 2011)

richardsharpe said:


> BTW - I don't think its "OK" to have sex with someone under 18, but I think there should be a lot of range between "OK" and felony sex offense.


Many states have lower penalties for older victims. In my state it's first degree rape for under 14 with 8-1/3 years.. For 14-16, it's a lesser felony with 3 years. Between 16-18 it's a misdemeanor.


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## larry.gray (Feb 21, 2011)

BradWesley said:


> Question is, what does her husband do? According to reports, they are still married. Does he file for D, or does he stay with her.


In a local case the wife and husband stayed together. He's still a police officer. I really did feel sorry for her husband and kids. I can't imagine the torment the kids got when it came out mom was sleeping with a classmate. 

I don't know what she's up to nowadays but clearly she's not teaching.


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## PhillyGuy13 (Nov 29, 2013)

richardsharpe said:


> BTW - I don't think its "OK" to have sex with someone under 18, but I think there should be a lot of range between "OK" and felony sex offense.


I agree with you. I get frustrated at the occasional stories of the 19 yo guy with the 16 yo girlfriend gets arrested because her parents press charges. Some of these "kids" end up with a sex offender label that stays with them forever. That's not right.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## NextTimeAround (Dec 15, 2011)

PhillyGuy13 said:


> I agree with you. I get frustrated at the occasional stories of the 19 yo guy with the 16 yo girlfriend gets arrested because her parents press charges. Some of these "kids" end up with a sex offender label that stays with them forever. That's not right.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


We should also remember that more and more 19 year olds are still in high school because the age to enter kindergarten is getting later and later as well.

If you are going to treat a 19 year old like a child........


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## alexm (Nov 29, 2008)

PhillyGuy13 said:


> What bugs me primarily isn't his age. It's the fact that these two women were teachers at his school. I find it heinous for a teacher to have sexual contact with any students at the school, regardless of age and regardless of gender. It should be a felony and loss of job.
> 
> Teachers, to me, have an inherent responsibility to protect children. Fair or unfair, they should be held to a higher standard than the rest of society.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Damn straight.

Hell, my last year of high school, there were a number of 19 year olds (and one 20 year old!!!) who had either failed a couple of years or who had come back to finish high school after "taking a year off". They were legally adults. There were teachers there at the time who were 23, 24 - not much older than most of the seniors, and REALLY not a whole lot older than this small handful of people.

It should be absolutely illegal for teachers and students, regardless of age, to be that intimate. I include college/uni in this, too.

Apart from the obvious reasons of age differences (where in high school, it is often a minor involved) it is also a glaring conflict of interest.

As for age of consent, it is 14 where I live. I believe it should be at least 16, or some other mathematical formula that isn't that difficult to determine (ie. if one person is 18, then no more than 400 days difference in birthdate or something along those lines). Obviously people date others when they're 17 and 15, or 16 and 14, etc. I did. My first girlfriend was less than 2 years younger than me. I had just turned 16 when we started dating, she was 2 months shy of turning 15. So for the 3 years we were together, there were several months each year where we were 2 "years" apart. When I turned 18, she was still 16 for a short period of time.

But the difference would have been huge in people's eyes if we had started dating when I was 18 and 10 months and she was 16 and 2 months. It's a tricky situation with lots of grey areas.


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## alexm (Nov 29, 2008)

PhillyGuy13 said:


> I agree with you. I get frustrated at the occasional stories of the 19 yo guy with the 16 yo girlfriend gets arrested because her parents press charges. Some of these "kids" end up with a sex offender label that stays with them forever. That's not right.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Yeah, the getting arrested part is hard to swallow.

But in all honesty, what is a 19 year old adult doing dating (or even hanging around with) a 16 year old? I get that they might go to school together, or be in the same circles. 3 years isn't THAT much a gap, but all the same, it kind of is.

Like I said in my post above, it's a tricky scenario a lot of the time and very very grey. I had a 14, 15 month age gap between my first gf. I don't think, even at that time, that I could have dated somebody with much more of a gap than that. Certainly less than 2 years, and especially by the time I hit 18.


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## PhillyGuy13 (Nov 29, 2013)

alexm said:


> Yeah, the getting arrested part is hard to swallow.
> 
> But in all honesty, what is a 19 year old adult doing dating (or even hanging around with) a 16 year old? I get that they might go to school together, or be in the same circles. 3 years isn't THAT much a gap, but all the same, it kind of is.
> 
> Like I said in my post above, it's a tricky scenario a lot of the time and very very grey. I had a 14, 15 month age gap between my first gf. I don't think, even at that time, that I could have dated somebody with much more of a gap than that. Certainly less than 2 years, and especially by the time I hit 18.



A 19year old dating a 16 year old is NOT a good idea. however, I don't think the 19 year old should carry a record for the rest of his life because of it.


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## SpinDaddy (Nov 12, 2012)

richardsharpe said:


> Good evening
> I think 15-16 would be a more reasonable absolute-cutoff age of consent (eg, someone under that age cannot consent under any conditions - they are a CHILD).
> 
> Between that age and 18, I would look only prosecute if the "victim" wanted to prosecute. It also might be a considerably lesser crime.
> ...


Notwithstanding the issue of consent, a teacher engaging in sexual relations with a pupil is an abuse of power and authority. In principle, it’s no different than a police officer having sex with someone he or she has pulled over or a judge doing so with someone before his or her court. A politician granting a favor for a blow job, and so on, and so on.

Statutory consent (i.e., at what age does a child not have the intellectual capacity to agree to/fully understand) is really a red herring here. The bigger issue is the abuse of power by a person we (society) have put into a position of authority. 

All that statutory consent is doing here is saying “not only did you abuse your position of power but you did so with a person who is not otherwise mentally capable of consenting to whatever it is you did; assuming arguendo, that it would have been legal in the first place.”


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## Mr. Nail (Apr 26, 2011)

Two issues bother me. I live less than 7 miles from a state line. What is legal on this side of that imaginary line is illegal on the other side. Then there is the transporting minors across state lines thing. Hardly a date occurs that doesn't cross that line.

Then what was a felony on Tuesday is a misdemeanor on Wednesday. I'm really not sure a good manageable law can be written.Generally the age of consent law is written to decrease the burden on the legal system. In other words whenever they are doing it anyway.

So my issues are these invisible lines. 

The position of authority issue is pretty obvious to me.


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