« Back to Article |
Attorney: Pasadena HS teacher innocent of alleged sexual crime with student
By Carol Christian | October 21, 2014 | Updated: October 21, 2014 5:13pm
-
Former teacher Ashley Zehnder, 24, is accused of engaging in an improper relationship with a student at Pasadena High School. (Pasadena Independent School District)
-
Photo By Houston ChronicleSee these other Texas teachers caught in sex scandals at school.
-
Photo By Pasadena ISDFormer Pasadena High School ROTC instructor Ernesto Montemayor was arrested June 13, 2011, after allegations he had an improper sexual relationship with a student, described as a 16-year-old girl. He faced charges of improper relationship with a student or sexual assault of a child 14-17. In December 2012, he pled guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
-
Photo By Chronicle fileShelley Linder was a teacher at Brazosport High School. She was arrested after allegations that she had sex with a 16-year-old student in 2009 and later with a 17-year-old student. She was charged with improper relationship between a teacher and student, a third-degree felony in March 2012. She pled guilty and received deferred adjudication in August 2012 and received five years of probation and a $1,000 fine.
-
Photo By (AP Photo/Arlington Police Department)This photo provided by the Arlington Police Department shows Brittni Colleps. Colleps, a former Texas high school teacher, was convicted Friday, Aug. 17, 2012, after having sex with five 18-year-old students at her home.
-
Photo By ChronicleJuan A. Villarreal (no photo available), a teacher at HISD's Anderson Elementary School, entered a guilty plea in February 2013 to charges of possessing and distributing child pornography.A search warrant was executed on his home in August 2012. Special Agent Sylvia Snyder testified agents uncovered eight thumb drives, six containing child pornography after executing a search warrant at Villarreal's home.His sentencing is set for May 13, 2013, in U.S. District Court.
-
Photo By Chronicle fileEmily Kate Janes, a former teacher at Deer Park High School, plead guilty in June 2008 to having sex with an 18-year-old student. According to media reports the two would meet at her home. She was sentenced to four years deferred adjudication.
-
Photo By Chronicle fileShannon Kay Hrozek, 42, of Houston, was arrested in 2008 after an assistant principal entered her classroom at the Westfield High School in Spring, and found her performing oral sex on a 16-year-old male student, court records show. In 2009, she received deferred adjudication and 10 years probation.
-
Photo By Chronicle fileAlison Mosbeck, a teacher at Dueitt Middle School, also in Spring, was arrested in 2007 after allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old boy. According to reports, the relationship began after she took him to a festival in a nearby town. In 2010, Mosbeck was given deferred adjudication and is serving 10 years probation.
-
Photo By Fotolia illustrationIn 2007, Carlos Hector Valencia (no photo available), a Westfield High School teacher, was accused of inappropriately touching an 18-year-old girl on campus. The Spring ISD Spanish teacher received deferred adjudication and five years probation.
-
Photo By Chronicle fileBrandy Lynn Gonzales, a former Piney Point Elementary fifth-grade teacher, plead guilty to four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child in 2008. The victims were between the ages of 11 and 13.
-
Photo By Chronicle fileAdrianne Hockett, a former teacher at Hastings High School, plead guilty in 2005 to one count of sexual assault of a child. The child’s mother said Hockett would pick up her son, then 15, for special tutoring at the library. The boy, a special-education student, said they would instead go to Hockett’s home where they would drink beer, smoke marijuana and have sex. She spent 180 days in jail and was given 10 years probation.
-
Photo By Chronicle fileJennifer Cates, former freshman volleyball coach at Poteet High School in Atascosa County, south of San Antonio, pleaded guilty in 2001 to one count of sexual assault of a child after a Atascosa County sheriff’’s deputy found her with a 14-year girl in a parked car after the team returned from an out-of-town game. She received five years' probation and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
The defense attorney for a former Pasadena High School teacher charged with having an improper relationship with a student said she will vigorously defend her client.
"We believe she's innocent," attorney Nicole DeBorde said of her client, Ashley Zehnder, who is free on $10,000 bail after being arrested Friday on a charge of having an improper relationship with a male student. She resigned Oct. 9 from her position as a biology teacher and cheerleading coach, school officials said.
DeBorde, a former Harris County assistant district attorney, said Tuesday she was still getting details of the allegations against Zehnder from the prosecutor.
"No one has admitted to any crime at this point," she said. "We don't think any crime has been committed. They're saying (the alleged behavior) is inappropriate solely because of the teacher-student relationship."
According to court records, the student told the school district's police department that the relationship began when he lost his cellphone and used the teacher's phone to find his. The student said he knew Zehnder because he was a member of the competitive cheering squad.
The student kept Zehnder's number in his cellphone and the two began exchanging text messages, court records state.
A witness told authorities that the student had admitted having a sexual relationship with Zehnder, records state. If true, DeBorde said, the relationship would be illegal due to the teacher-student relationship, not because of the student's age.
The student and Zehnder allegedly started having sex sometime in May at the teacher's apartment and continued through the summer, according to the criminal complaint filed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office. She said he was 17.
Zehnder's next appearance is scheduled for Dec. 2 in the 176th State District Court before Judge Stacey W. Bond.