Tuesday, June 02, 2009
A former Brazos Middle School teacher pleaded guilty Monday to 10 counts of sexual assault of a child and is asking a judge to place her on deferred probation.
The case was one of two in a Waco courtroom Monday involving women committing sexual offenses with youths.
McLennan County prosecutor Melanie Walker recommended that Tara Allison Hodges, 27, be sentenced to 10 years in prison on each of the 10 counts of improper sexual contact with a 14-year-old male Brazos Middle School student and told 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother that she would oppose Hodges’ request for deferred probation.
Strother will sentence Hodges on July 26 after reviewing a background report compiled by probation officers.
Hodges had a two-month sexual relationship with the boy in 2008, officials have said. She also smoked marijuana with the boy, bought him shoes, gave him money and sent him explicit cell phone photos of herself, according to records filed in the case.
Hodges’ attorney, Russ Hunt, said Hodges has surrendered her teacher certification and will never teach again. He said she must register as a sex offender for the rest of her life and has moved to El Campo, Texas, to live with her parents.
Hodges is working with her father, who runs an organization that takes wounded veterans hunting as part of their therapy. She also is working for other nonprofit organizations in the El Campo area. He said the judge has received more than 100 letters from friends and supporters of Hodges who are urging him to grant her request for deferred probation.
Earlier Monday in 19th State District Court, Strother placed a 25-year-old Waco woman on eight years deferred probation for having sex with a 16-year-old boy.
Rhiannan Smith, who works at a phone bank, also was fined $1,000 and ordered to perform 300 hours of community service. She also has to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life, court officials said.
Smith pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a child in April. According to arrest affidavits, Smith had sexual intercourse and sexual contact with the victim in her apartment Dec. 27 and Jan. 20.
She told police that she just finished a three-year relationship and “just wasn’t thinking right” when she had sexual intercourse with the teenager, whom officials described as a family friend.
“She owned up to it,” said Smith’s attorney, Angel Gavito. “She never hid from the facts. She has a clean record. She just made a mistake.”
In deferred probation cases, there is no final judgment of guilt if a defendant successfully completes probation.
twitherspoon@wacotrib.com
757-5737
Comments
By mother
Jun 8, 2009 9:32 AM | Link to this
I am a mother of 2, BOY and GIRL. And I do NOT care, if anyone ever touched either of my children, I wish that they would burn in HELL. This is abosoluty crazy, a child that age, does not have the mentality of an adult to do things like that, they just excited for the attention they get. Either a GIRL or BOY, that is miused, taken from themselves, will haunt them the rest of their lives. I wish that we could follow a story of a young teenage child that is abused and check with them in 10-20 yrs and see where exactly their lives are. Could be a reason, why people do not say married anyone, ABUSE. SOME< not All Children that are abused, ABUSE their spouses and their children. And the sick induvidual that started it, get a slap on the rist and told NEVER to do it again. CRIMES are crimes, not matter how bad and or what age they are commited.
By Hewitt Citizen
Jun 3, 2009 10:03 AM | Link to this
I'd bet almost no one would be arguing for deferred probation if it was a male teacher, yet it's somehow different that it's a woman teacher? I don't get it.
By Eazy
Jun 3, 2009 2:32 AM | Link to this
i think the same way 13 is 13 ay way u look at it boy or girl they are minors by the law but i do give a lot of credit to all these kids speaking up about it over the past year even i have seen more and more female sex offenders comming out of the wood works i do not know what there charges or sentence but the should treat male and female sex offenders the same i worked in a court house and i seen alot of males get the hammer droped down on them and the 2 females i seen got 5 and 2 years probation but a sign never stopped a sex offender from doing it again yea u can move away from everything change everything in ur life but u will always be a sex offender
By future educator
Jun 3, 2009 1:02 AM | Link to this
I think this is outrageous...Justice needs to be served in all cases against people who are taught to educate youth not get involved in relationships with them. Now that she faces jail time they want to bring up that she is volunteering and trying to make a better life by leaving the city where the crime took place. But she should have thought about the consequences before she slept with this boy ten times. There is no where that states it is okay to sleep with your pupils. What has she taught him by doing that. This world is sick and the judicial system is so jacked up. She should be punished to the full extinct. Where were all the hundreds of people that have sent letters when she was messing around with this individual...they should have reported her to the district instead of it tunring out the way it did. I can't see how a woman deserves a break when she mad the bed that she laid in. Teachers are suppose to set examples for the youth they teach. I really hope that the students that she did get a chance to educate don't make the same mistakes as she did.
By a daddy
Jun 2, 2009 8:44 PM | Link to this
hey , i am father of of 2 girls and and a boy. judge strothers is losing his mind, if a man molests a little girl, he gets straight jail time and his life is ruined. if a women molest a little boy she gets probation.....somebody needs to think about our judicial system...yea i am thoroughly upset about this crap..if he will give the women probation for this crime, then he needs to come off the bench and go do the time for them...lets hope that he does the right thing...women are no different then men...
By q
Jun 2, 2009 8:03 PM | Link to this
I dissagree that these women are as guilty as men who molest and rape young girls; that seems to be a rather naive view. If a young girl is molested and raped then she is experiencing fear pain and missery... I highley doubt these are the feelings a 16 year old boy would be having.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning what happend, but I don't think it's a fair comparison; citing from Godwin's law, it's like comparing Hitler to Churchill. They both commited atrocities (1945 area was a dodgey time for Churchill). Only I think we'd all agree there's such a thing of a scale of crime between the two.
Just because you conscribe to the philisophical views of Immanuel Kant it doesn't mean you have to impose it upon others. These peoples lives have been ruined for ever because a consenting action took place between two free thinking people. It is possible that you have the problem and not these women.
By Dawn Kitchens
Jun 2, 2009 6:59 PM | Link to this
The "fair and balanced" network need to be advised of this case! In my opinion, the prosecutor's offer of ten years in prison for 10 counts should be the very minimum. Being a teacher meant she had a higher standard to bear and, thus, a higher degree of punishment is in order. Let's hope the court remembers the drugs and cell phone photos she sent the minor and sees through the smoke screen of her work for a nonprofit organization and all those support letters from friends. Rhiannan Smith should have gone to prison. Another example of the court making policy based on the individual instead of following the law.
By i got your hook-up
Jun 2, 2009 6:50 PM | Link to this
I don't understand the Waco judges. Reading about serious crimes committed in the paper, you just know that person is gonna get some deserved time. Then they end up getting probation. I need to do some research on that stat. I'll bet half the population of Waco(including Robinson, Bellmead,China Spring and Hewitt) have been on probation at one time or another. Anybody wondering, no, I have not. Probation seems to be the norm in Waco. Margaret Mills just happened to luck out and get some prison time. I can't believe both of these women got probation. One of these lady's eyes are eerily close together..... Yet another reason to think incidents like these make Waco look bad and lower the quality of life. This going on in the face of the squabbling of Waco High. This doesn't send a good message to todays youth.
By El Diablo
Jun 2, 2009 6:32 PM | Link to this
I wonder what Judge "tough on crime" Strother is getting out of these deals. Deferred adjudication? Sheesh.
Oh, and I'd like to request some photographic evidence from Tara Hodges' cell phone. I'm launching my own investigation, so to speak.
Call me, Tara. I'm over 18, but I look young for my age.
By momma
Jun 2, 2009 5:53 PM | Link to this
This is crazy, why is okay for these women to make 'Mistakes' with these young boys and get a slap on the wrist? They are just as guilty as the men who molest and rape young girls these ages. If any of my children would be in this situation daughter or son, I would want justice prevailed on both sides....Send these nasty hores to prison or give them some jail time to think about what they have done. They are the adults and should've made the right decision as to avoid the taunts of these young men.
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