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Former California teacher Tanya Hadden breaks down during the Thursday sentencing hearing in which she apologized for having repeated sex with a 15-year-old student. Photo by Gary Thompson.

Friday, September 20, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

TEACHER SEX CASE: Hadden's sentence suspended

California woman apologizes

Comparing her actions to those of a lust-driven schoolgirl, California teacher turned sex offender Tanya Hadden apologized Thursday for seducing a teenage pupil.

"I was acting like a 15-year-old girlfriend, not like an adult," Hadden told District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, just moments before the judge handed out a suspended prison sentence and probation to the disgraced teacher.

Hadden also turned to the mother of her former student, Richard Pena, and said the decision to bring the boy to Las Vegas earlier this year was wrong.

"I acted irresponsibly and unprofessionally as a teacher," Hadden said, looking directly at the boy's mother, Ida Pena. "I undermined your authority as a parent.

"I know this doesn't take your anguish away," Hadden continued. "I know you didn't sleep at night when we were gone and I know that you didn't know whether he was coming home."

Prosecutors asked that Bonaventure send Hadden to prison for a minimum of three years.

The judge instead issued a suspended prison sentence that translates into a maximum of five years of probation. If she violates that probation, she will immediately face five to 12 1/2 years in prison on charges of second-degree kidnapping, statutory sexual seduction and teacher-student sexual relations.

Hadden pleaded guilty to the charges in August.

In addition, Bonaventure ordered Hadden to spend six months in the Clark County Detention Center. But with credit for the five months she has already spent there, she should be extradited to California to face related charges there in roughly 40 days.

The judge said he was reluctantly suspending the sentence to give Hadden a chance at reconstructing her life.

But the judge did not hold back when questioning Hadden's decisions.

"How dare you?" Bonaventure yelled. "You will never be able to be around children again. This will follow you around for the rest of your life like a scarlet letter. Like a scarlet letter."

The sentence was clearly not satisfactory for Ida Pena and her daughter, Roxanne. Before Bonaventure could even finish announcing the sentence, the two women and other family members stormed out of the courtroom.

"He's giving probation?" a Pena family member could be overheard saying.

"What a travesty," one said.

"I'm out of here," said another.

The Pena family declined comment outside of the courtroom. During the sentencing hearing, they told Bonaventure that Hadden should serve hard time.

"You taught him to lie, drink and have sex," Ida Pena told Hadden. "How dare you violate him and us? You seduced and manipulated him."

The boy's sister, Roxanne, labeled Hadden "a disgrace to the education profession."

Hadden herself seemed to agree with that contention, offering an apology to her former students and principal at Cajon High School in San Bernardino, Calif.

"I am so sorry that I let you guys down," she said. "You deserved better and I didn't deserve you."

And in what was perhaps the most emotional moment of the hearing, Hadden turned to her mother and stepfather in the courtroom audience. She shook with emotion as she apologized to them.

"I want to apologize to my friends for being an emotional burden and a disappointment to you," she said.

"I love you," responded her mother, Joan Hadden-Phelps.

Thursday's hearing wraps up the Las Vegas proceedings of an extremely high-profile case that will be featured in the coming days on the national television shows "Dateline" and "Inside Edition." At least six television crews were present Thursday and media representatives filled an entire section of Bonaventure's courtroom.

More importantly, the case raised serious questions about what is the appropriate punishment for teachers who cross the ethical line and have sex with students. Over the past year and a half, some 14 Clark County School District employees -- most of them teachers -- have been arrested locally on such charges.

Of those cases that have been resolved, many received probation.

Deputy Public Defender Jordan Savage argued Thursday that the sentences in those other cases dictate that Hadden also deserves probation.

Savage also said Hadden was overcharged by prosecutors. He said Hadden clearly made a mistake in judgment, but the decision to charge her with first-degree kidnapping -- a charge that carries with it a potential life sentence -- was a case of overkill.

Savage pointed out that Pena came to Las Vegas with Hadden willingly, and that if convicted on the original charges she faced, Hadden could have faced life in prison plus an additional 18 to 102 years in prison.

"You could take a gun, shoot someone and paralyze them for life and the most the state would threaten you with is four to 40," Savage said.

Clark County prosecutor Lisa Luzaich requested prison time for Hadden, and she said the state's prosecution of Hadden was both appropriate and justified.

"This is a woman who took a child away from his parents and with no one's permission, took him to Las Vegas," Luzaich said.