Florida Teacher Gets No Jail for Sex with Boy - Updated

(Seminole County, Florida) After pleading guilty to a reduced charge of felony battery, Jennifer Tarkenton (aka Jennifer Nero), now 34, was sentenced to five years of probation.

Since the sex-related charges against the 14-year-old boy were dismissed, Tarkenton will not be required to register as a sex offender. However, she was ordered to attend a sex offender treatment program. She also cannot reside within 500 feet of a school or park.

Interesting. Tarkenton gets no jail for a reduced, and not sex-related, charge and she not going to register as a sex offender, but the judge imposed sex offender-related restrictions on her. One might conclude that the judge deemed the additional restrictions necessary because Tarkenton is a threat to repeat the behavior. And, if that is true, why did the prosecution allow her to plead out of the sex offenses?

All the while, there doesn't seem to be any restrictions on Tarkenton continuing her teaching career. She can't reside within 500 feet of a school but she can apparently be employed by the school.



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Florida Teacher Pinched for Sex with Boy
[Previous 11/30/07]
(Seminole County, Florida) A 34-year-old teacher at Greenwood Lakes Middle School in Lake Mary, Jennifer Tarkenton, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Tarkenton faces three counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child.

According to a Seminole County sheriff's report, deputies responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle at about 10 p.m. Thursday in the area of 800 Banana Lake Road in Lake Mary. Deputies said a woman, later identified as Tarkenton, and a 14-year-old boy were inside the vehicle.

The boy told deputies that he and Tarkenton had sex inside the vehicle after she picked him up at his house, drove to a nearby pharmacy and purchased condoms.

"The bottom line is we have an adult in the position of trust. We have an adult in a position of authority. (This) should never happen," Seminole County sheriff's Lt. Dennis Lemma said.

Tarkenton was booked into custody at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility and later released on $10,000 bond.

Tipped by Don Morgenstern and slwlion.


[Update 12/03/07]

Here's a more detailed account of Tarkenton's suspiciousness.

When deputies arrived, they found Tarkenton and the 14-year-old boy.

"As a deputy responded out there, they used all their flashlights and immediately noticed that the car was moving, the car was shaking, that the windows were rolled all the way up, and there was a condensation or a fogging on the windows," an official said.

The car was rockin' and the deputies came a knockin'.