A married high school teacher has been sentenced to over a decade in prison for multiple instances of sexual conduct with a student.
33-year-old Heather Hare was sentenced last week following her arrest for unlawful sexual activity with a student.
Hare, who previously worked at Bryant High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, as a Family Consumer Science teacher, had sexual activity with a senior student between 20 to 30 times throughout the 2021-2022 school term.
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The United States Attorney’s Office for Arkansas confirmed she had been sentenced in a press release on May 15.
She was sentenced to serve the next 13 years in a federal prison for transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity.
Hare met the victim on their first day of their senior year, and eventually began one-on-one counselling with the student.
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She eventually gave them their personal number and began communicating through Instagram and Snapchat. She had also told the minor victim that she ‘had a dream of them having sex and gave the victim her home address in Conway’.
Between April 21 and April 24 in 2022, Hare was a chaperone for a field trip to Washington, D.C., as part of an extracurricular activity related to the Family Consumer Science courses. On this trip Hare admitted that she and the victim engaged in unlawful sexual activity, to which she pleaded guilty to.
The press release also stated all the charges Hare faced.
“Hare was indicted on August 1, 2023, and charged with one count of interstate/foreign travel for prostitution/sexual activity by coercion and one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity," the release states.
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"In exchange for her guilty plea, the remaining charge was dismissed.”
United States District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky, who sentenced Hare, also said she must serve a lifetime of supervised release.
On the overall decision passed by the judge, United States Attorney Jonathan Ross said it should act as a warning to any other teachers engaging in illegal activity with students.
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“Teachers who have sex with their minor students should take note of today’s sentence for Ms. Hare which reflects the consequences of abusing her position of trust and taking advantage of the vulnerability of this minor to repeatedly engage in unlawful sexual activity,” he said.
“Our office will continue to hold accountable those who are in a position of trust that target children and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, as evidenced by Judge Rudofsky sentencing Ms. Hare to 13 years in federal prison.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Gerrard Kaonga