Thread: Boy who fled with teacher gets reprieve

Boy who fled with teacher gets reprieve
By OSKAR GARCIA Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 01/31/2008 01:56:32 PM PST


OMAHA, Neb.—A 14-year-old boy who fled to Mexico with his former teacher will be allowed to return to the United States for a year, his lawyer said Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security has granted the boy, an illegal immigrant, humanitarian parole, according to a letter sent to his lawyer, Amy Peck.

"(The boy) is going home," Peck told reporters. "At the very least, he gets to speak about what happened to him."

Marilu Cabrera, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said she couldn't comment on specific immigration cases.

The boy's former teacher, Kelsey Peterson, 25, of Lexington, Neb., remains in federal custody. She pleaded not guilty in November to federal charges of crossing a border to have sex with a minor and faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

Peterson also faces state charges, including two sexual-assault charges that were added after she entered her federal court plea.

It's unclear whether the boy will be called to testify in any trial. Peck said her client plans to attend a Feb. 29 hearing on Peterson's federal charges.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Omaha did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Peterson was the boy's sixth-grade math teacher at Lexington Middle School. The pair disappeared in October, soon after Peterson was confronted by the district's superintendent about allegations of an inappropriate relationship with the boy, then 13. They were found a week later in Mexicali, Mexico, where the boy remains, according to Peck. The boy plans to cross into the U.S. at San Ysidro, Calif., in a few days. He will then return to Lexington to live with his mother, Peck said. The boy is unlikely to return to the school he had attended, and the family may decide to leave Lexington, she said.

The boy told The Associated Press after the pair were found that he and Peterson had sex. The AP previously named the boy as police searched for him but stopped using his name in reports after authorities charged Peterson with a sex crime.

About one in five applications for humanitarian parole—nearly 1,500 total—were granted between 2000 and October 2005, according to the most recent numbers available from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Peck said she would still pursue a visa that could put the boy on the path to citizenship and give permanent-resident status to his family members. The "U" visa is designed for victims of certain crimes and needs the backing of someone involved with prosecuting, investigating or judging the case.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/nationa ... ci_8130995

What a crock