Prison term suspended for California teacher

LAS VEGAS — A San Bernardino, Calif., teacher whose relationship with a 15-year-old student began with innocent car rides and after-school French fries but crossed the line — and then the state line — was given a suspended sentence yesterday and will avoid prison for now.

Clark County District Court Judge Joseph Bonaventure handed Tanya Joan Hadden a 13-year prison term — then suspended that sentence and put her on probation for five years.

Hadden, 33, technically would have to spend the first six months of her probation in a detention center. But because she's been in jail for 140 days — since she and her student took off on a road trip in April that landed them at a $39-a-night Vegas strip hotel — she likely will be released once she is credited for good behavior, prosecutors said.

Relatives of the teenager, who earned an "A" in Hadden's science class before the two purportedly fell in love and began a sexual relationship last spring, stormed out of the courtroom after the verdict.

Hadden faces additional charges in San Bernardino, where prosecutors have pledged to forge ahead with a second case in an effort to put Hadden behind bars for years. Bonaventure also recounted a litany of restrictions that she will live under forever — from curfews to an inability to teach again to a requirement that she never date a man who has male children.

"This conviction is going to follow you around the rest of your life like a Scarlet Letter," Bonaventure said. "You were trusted, Ms. Hadden, by our society. You marred the sanctity of that relationship. And for this, you deserve to be punished. I hope you never forget it."

"I won't, sir," Hadden said.

Hadden initially faced 19 criminal charges in Nevada. In August, she pleaded guilty to three of them — having sex with a student, statutory sexual seduction and second-degree kidnapping.