Teacher: Flight to Mexico Was Boy's Idea
By OSKAR GARCIA
Associated Press Writer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A former teacher accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student said it was the boy's idea to flee to Mexico and that he told her he would kill her if she left him.
"He was pressuring me and that's why we chose to leave," Kelsey Peterson said at a pretrial hearing Monday where U.S. Magistrate Judge F.A. Gossett denied bail, saying Peterson was a flight risk.
Peterson said the boy left bruises on her arms and chest, told her what to wear and threatened her life. She said he was in a gang and had her name tattooed across his chest, and that the boy's family knew about and encouraged their relationship.
The boy's lawyers disputed Peterson's allegations and accused her attorney of lying and using Mexican stereotypes to cloud facts of the case.
"This whole case has been pulling things out of thin air and putting them forth as true," said Stu Dornan, an attorney for the boy.
The 25-year-old former teacher and the eighth-grader were found Nov. 2 in Mexicali, Mexico. Peterson pleaded not guilty Nov. 29 to charges of crossing a border to have sex with a minor.
She said she panicked before they fled to Mexico, but didn't think authorities would come after her. "I was scared to death," said Peterson, who faces federal charges that could result in 10 years to life in prison.
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Let her name be Lakeesha, and see if they would even be
listening to her. I find this to be complete BULL.
If this were a MAN and the student was a 13 year old FEMALE illegal from another country..
Would they even give the lawyer 1 LINE of newsprint?
HELL NO
And THAT is what should happen with THIS pedophile.
Well, there it is. An adult
Well, there it is. An adult wants us to believe that a 13 year-old child forced her to flee to Mexico with him by alternately using threats to harm himself and her if she did not obey him. What school district was she a teacher in? She seems extraordinarily immature.