An ex-teacher in Kentucky was sentenced Thursday for sexually abusing a 17-year-old male student at a juvenile detention facility.
Twenty-seven-year-old Elena Bardin, who is a mother to a five-year-old, was sentenced to 14 years behind bars after being convicted in September of sexual abuse, unlawful transaction with a minor, and distribution of obscene material to a minor in the case involving the teenage boy at the Adair County Juvenile Detention Center, the Union-Bulletin reported.
The woman was “sentenced to consecutive terms of 10 years for unlawful transaction with a minor and four years for sexual abuse. She also received a 12-month sentence for a distribution charge, to be served concurrently, and was ordered to register as a sex offender for 20 years,” the outlet said.
Law enforcement initially said they found evidence that Bardin solicited the teen to kill her husband, per Breitbart News, but a jury later acquitted the ex-teacher regarding that charge. According to Law & Crime network, it was possible the jurors believed her defense that it was meant as a “joke.”
The network shared video footage of officers arresting Bardin and photos of letters she sent to the teenage boy:
Judge Todd Spalding said there were nearly 200 pages of letters, photos, and other explicit material.
According to Spalding, the ex-teacher’s supervisor said the young woman was advised to end the relationship and distance herself from the teenager, but “not only did you not heed that advice and stop, it looks to me like you actually doubled down on the behavior after that,” the judge explained.
According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network’s (RAINN) website, people being held in juvenile facilities are at risk of sexual violence.
“Sexual abuse in detention settings can take many forms. Each of these acts violates the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) and the survivor’s basic human rights. They are crimes — not consequences of incarceration — and must be treated as such,” the site read.