Former substitute teacher gets probation for affair with student

A former long-term substitute teacher at Hyde Park Middle School was ordered to serve five years’ probation Thursday for an affair with a 15-year-old male student.

Tanikka “Bella” Queen pleaded guilty in April to two felonies, luring a child to engage in a sexual act and sexual conduct by a school employee and a pupil.

As part of a deal, prosecutors agreed to drop 43 other counts against Queen.

The affair was uncovered in March when the parent of a female student, with whom Queen had a friendship, found text messages on the girl’s phone referring to the affair, according to court papers.

The boy’s father also became suspicious when his son came home with a hickey.

The 22-year-old Queen, who taught geography at the middle school near Valley View and Charleston boulevards, initially denied having an affair with her student, according to police reports.

But on Thursday, she called the affair “criminally wrong” and “morally wrong, but above all wrong for my victim.”

School district police recovered from a cellphone about 2,400 text messages, 108 phone calls and 38 photographs sent between Queen and the boy that showed a burgeoning love affair that began around Valentine’s Day.

Queen eventually admitted to spending too much time with the boy and kissing him. In one interview, she told detectives she had sex with the boy while she was house sitting for a friend, according to a report.

Along with the probation, District Judge James Bixler ordered Queen to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation, sex-specific counseling and said she would be under lifetime supervision as a registered sex offender. Should Queen violate her probation, she faces between six and 15 years in prison.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.