Teacher
gets 120 days for statutory rape
by Ivan
Foley
Landmark editor
In Platte County Circuit Court on Friday, a former Park
Hill teacher was sentenced to 120 days of shock time in
the Platte County Jail on four counts of second-degree
statutory rape.
Rachelle L. Hernandez, 31, admitted having sex with a
14-year old boy she taught as a special-education teacher
at Plaza Middle School in the Park Hill School District.
The incidents happened at motels between Aug. 1, 2000
and early 2001.
Platte County Circuit Judge Owens Lee Hull Jr. ordered
Hernandez to serve four months in jail and five years
of probation.
"I wish she would have gotten more, but I understand
the sentencing," Platte County Prosecutor Tammy Glick
told The Landmark this week.
Glick had told the judge her office agreed to probation
if Hernandez also received some jail time.
Hernandez is also to have no unsupervised contact with
children under 18, perform 100 hours of community service,
and receive counseling. She was also forced to forfeit
her Missouri teaching license.
During the 3½ hour sentencing hearing, Hernandez'
pastor and family, including her husband, testified on
her behalf and asked the judge not to separate her from
her one-year-old daughter.
James Hernandez said that he and his wife tried to help
the 14-year-old boy, as they had other troubled students.
He testified that he and his wife were having marital
problems due to a miscarriage when the incidents took
place.
Hernandez is due this week in a Clay County court to
face sentencing on a second-degree statutory rape charge
in that county, involving the boy when he was 15. Hernandez
has also pleaded guilty to that charge. Those incidents
took place in her Oakwood home while she was on bond in
the Platte County case. She served 57 days in jail before
being released on bond after her Clay County charge.
Glick explained that Hernandez does not get credit for
those 57 days of jail time.
"Her sentence is for 120 days beginning last Friday,"
Glick said, explaining that credit for previous days served
is not an option on shock incarceration.
Glick said family members of the victim had indicated
they are satisfied with the sentence. The boy was in the
courthouse but not in the courtroom at the time of Friday's
hearing, she said.
Hernandez in court apologized to the boy and his mother.
If Hernandez violates her probation, she faces four years
in prison.
|
