Hadden won’t go to prison

Kim Smith

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 9:23 a.m.

A 33-year-old California teacher who pleaded guilty to seducing a 15-year-old student told a judge Thursday she is no Mary Kay Letourneau.

Tanya Hadden appeared before Clark County District Judge Joseph Bonaventure Thursday to learn if she would be spending the next several years in prison or on probation.

Bonaventure wanted to know the difference between Hadden and Letourneau, a Seattle teacher who made headlines when she seduced a 12-year-old student and bore him two children. One of the children was conceived while Letourneau was on probation.

The judge ultimately placed Hadden on five years probation, but not until after grilling Hadden.

"I want to make sure this never happens again and right now the only way I can make sure there is no contact between you two is to send you to a Nevada state prison," Bonaventure said midway through the hearing.

Hadden was accused of beginning an affair with the boy last spring and driving to Las Vegas with him the first week of May once authorities began to investigate rumors she had supplied teenagers with alcohol at a party.

The boy's family told Bonaventure they were frantic with worry the entire time he was gone. When they learned of the affair, they worried Hadden's husband might have killed the boy or that Hadden might be contemplating a murder-suicide.

Although Hadden had denied having sex with the boy, the boy told police they had sexual intercourse eight times over three days in three Las Vegas motels.

Hadden pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree kidnapping, sexual conduct between teacher and student and statutory sexual seduction. Had she gone to trial, she could have received a life sentence on a first-degree kidnapping charge.

Hadden, who still faces multiple charges in California, could get between five and 12 1/2 years in prison if she violates the terms of her probation in Nevada.

She is to attend counseling, refrain from dating men with underage children, undergo periodic polygraph examinations and stay away from areas where children congregate. She must now register as a sex offender and submit to lifetime supervision.

The boy and his family are also off-limits to Hadden.

Bonaventure sentenced Hadden to six months in jail as a term of her probation, but with credit for good behavior and time served, she could be released to California authorities at any time, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon.

"I respect Judge Bonaventure and I understand the reasons behind his opinions, but obviously reasonable minds disagree on things," Herndon said. "I thought she should have been incarcerated."

Herndon said California authorities, who had contemplated dismissing her charges there if she got prison time here, will "surely" proceed against her now.

Hadden told Bonaventure Letourneau never intended to stop seeing her lover, but that she has already cut off all ties with the boy in her case.

Time and again she has declined the offers of her students to pass notes to the boy or participate in three-way calls from the jail, Hadden said.

Hadden said she ended the relationship for the boy's sake and because she can't see having a relationship with him in the future, knowing his parents hate her.

"I have screwed up his life. I'm not going to mince words. He is having a crappy life right now and it's all my fault," Hadden said.