Thread: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Kelsey Peterson says boy pursued her

Ex-teacher says trip to Mexico was boy's idea
BY BETSY FRIEDRICH
THE KEARNEY HUB

• Excerpts from the interview with Kelsey Peterson

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• Excerpts from the interview with Kelsey Peterson
LEXINGTON, Neb. — Kelsey Peterson sits in the Dawson County Jail library, a small room filled with dog-eared paperbacks and Bibles.

The 26-year-old wears the plain orange shirt and pants and white plastic shoes of a prisoner. Her dark hair is pulled into a neat bun, and she wears black-framed glasses.

Kelsey Peterson She is accused of having a sexual relationship with Fernando Rodriguez beginning in June 2006, when he was 12 years old and a student at Lexington Middle School, where Peterson was his sixth-grade math teacher. She has been convicted of federal charges and is awaiting trial on state charges.

When school officials discovered the relationship in October 2007, the pair fled to Mexico, leading authorities on a weeklong search.

The Kearney Hub spoke with Peterson in an exclusive interview this week in which she said she knows her actions were wrong, but in some ways she feels like the victim. Her attorney, James Martin Davis, was not present.

Amy Peck, the Omaha attorney representing Rodriguez, said, "Kelsey says that she accepts responsibility for her actions, yet she continues to blame Fernando for what happened."

When the Lexington school district put her on administrative leave because of suspicions that she was having sexual relations with a student, she said she felt her life was "falling apart around me, and I couldn't do anything about it."

She said Rodriguez suggested going to Mexico after receiving a call from a police officer who wanted to talk with him about his relationship with Peterson.

"I can remember sitting there like, 'I don't think that we can just go,'" Peterson said. "And then, at the same time, I didn't have any other answers. I had never been in trouble in my life and was just freaking out."

"In 20 minutes we went from making that decision to in the car leaving," she said.

She said she and Rodriguez did not consider themselves to be running from the law but instead leaving their life in Lexington.

"I was escaping Lexington in general because I knew I was losing my job," she said.

Peterson claims Rodriguez pursued her.

"I really cared about him. I wanted him to succeed," she said. "He was hanging with the wrong crowd always."

"He (Rodriguez) came to my class in probably October of my second year of teaching," Peterson said. "He became one of those students that hated to go home, didn't get along with his family and just wanted to hang out with whoever, so he would almost purposely get detention or find a reason to be after school in my classroom."

Peterson said Rodriguez sent her text messages the summer of 2006, after he was in her class. She said Rodriguez pursued her "like a man pursues a woman, and it was constant, constant."

"Eventually, I think I was emotionally worn down by him, and I gave in to thinking I had those same feelings for him," she said.

In interviews, Rodriguez told a different story. He said the relationship was "weird" because she was much older. He said Peterson wrote and called to express her love for him.

He said he wished the relationship had never happened.

"If I could go back in time, I would not, like, be with her," the youth said in a July interview with The World-Herald. "So she wouldn't get in trouble and none of this would happen, all of this drama thing."

Peterson said she moved to Gothenburg and rented a house that was three blocks from where Rodriguez was living. She said she did not know he lived nearby when she rented the house. After she moved, Rodriguez would show up at the house and hang out.

Over the summer of 2007, Peterson said, "We had become best friends."

Peterson said Rodriguez "practically lived with me" from June to October 2007.

"It was almost like a marriage," she said. "I know that sounds weird, but we were together all the time."

She said they did household chores and watched movies together, but she felt controlled by him — " I sometimes feel like I've been the victim in a lot of ways myself."

"Not that he hasn't been in some ways a victim," Peterson said. "When I say I crossed the line, I was a teacher, he was a student."

Peck, Rodriguez's attorney, said Peterson's claim of being a victim contradicts her statements in federal court "where she admitted that Fernando was not to blame." Peck noted that Peterson admitted earlier that the couple sneaked around behind Fernando's mom's back to see each other.

Peck said the evidence indicates that Fernando's discipline problems began only after the sexual relationship began.

"What child isn't going to act out when there is something this improper happening to him?" Peck said.

Peterson recalls saying goodbye to Rodriguez when they were in Mexico.

"The day we got arrested, we sat in a room for about four hours waiting for the United States to come and get me," she said.

"Fernando took a ring off my finger and put it on his, and he said, 'I'm going to wear this until you get out.' He looked at the officer and he said, 'I love her, and I'm going to marry her when she gets out, and I don't care how long she goes to jail.'"

She said both of them were crying.

"I told him I loved him, and we walked away."

In September, Peterson was sentenced to six years in federal prison on a charge of crossing state lines with a person younger than 18 to have sex. She waits in the Dawson County Jail to face the state charges, which could result in decades more prison time. Her trial has been scheduled for Jan. 13.

The Lexington native is facing state charges of two counts of sexual assault of a child, one count of felony child abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Peterson said she understands that there will be penalties for her actions.

"I totally am OK with taking responsibility for my actions," she said. "I do believe that I deserve some kind of punishment."

Yet she said the case has been blown out of proportion "not just for me, but for him, for his family, for my family."

"It's not just me that's being punished here," Peterson said. "Everyone is being punished, and I don't know how fair it is to everyone else."

"I am so not excusing what I've done. I crossed the line as a teacher, and I know that."

World-Herald staff writer Cindy Gonzalez contributed to this report.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10497999

Rest of the story from a link on the article:

LEXINGTON, Neb. - Here are excerpts from the interview with Kelsey Peterson:


On teaching:

"I got told by everyone that I had very good rapport with students, and I knew I did just because my mom used to tell me, 'You can't save them all, Kelsey,' because I kind of became that, wanting to save the all the lost sheep, I guess.

"I kind of took them all under my wing. The kids knew they could trust me, and they knew that it was more than just school. If something was wrong at home, they knew they could talk to me about it."
Crossing a line

"He (Rodriguez) came to my class in probably October of my second year of teaching. He became one of those students that hated to go home, didn't get along with his family and just wanted to hang out with whoever, so he would almost purposely get detention or find a reason to be after school in my classroom.

"He pursued me in the classroom, and I even reported it to my principal multiple times. I had like, feelings for him, as far as I really cared about him. I wanted him to succeed. He was hanging with the wrong crowd always. He has kind of always been involved in the gang life.

"He got my phone number, and that summer after I had him in class he started text messaging me all the time.

"I cared about him so much. He had told me over and over again, 'You're the only person that cares about me. You're the only person that cares what I do, who I want to be with, what I want to do when I'm older.'

"When I knew it was starting to get to where it was probably not an appropriate feeling towards him, it was almost like I couldn't let him down, either.

"What people don't understand is that he pursued me like a man pursues a woman, and it was constant, constant. Eventually, I think I was emotionally worn down by him and I gave in to thinking I had those same feelings for him.

"I moved to Lexington from Gothenburg. I ended up moving to a house that another principal owned and let me rent, and it ended up being like, three blocks from Fernando's house, which I didn't know at the time.

"Pretty soon, he would show up at my doorstep wanting to just hang out or talk. I always made sure he stayed outside, and then pretty soon he would just walk in. There were other kids that were around, but they acted like kids. They would knock, where he would just walk in. Fernando was like a boss, or the man. He was very bold about what he did."


Like a marriage

"We had become best friends.

"I read an article in the Oprah magazine about Mary Kay Letourneau and all these teachers, and they described it to the T. They said that the relationship never - it's not like I intended for it to ever become romantic or anything like that. It starts out as friendship, basically, and it grows from there. He ended up becoming one of my best friends, almost.

"He was wonderful at first. He treated me like everything was great, and he would do anything in the world for me. Then he got sent away, and that kind of put a wrinkle in things. Everybody likes to think he was just this innocent little boy, but he got in a lot of trouble a couple different times.

"He practically lived with me from June to October (2007). It was almost like a marriage. I know that sounds weird, but we were together all the time. He would be unloading the dishwasher, and I would be doing laundry, just normal stuff. We would sit down and watch a movie sometimes, or we would go out of town and go to the movies. He doesn't look like a little boy, so as long we were out of town, no one would have thought a thing about our relationship."


Victims

"I guess sometimes now I feel that way. Mainly it's after talking to other people who have had the experience of domestic violence that I see all the issues that were underlying our relationship.

"I guess I didn't realize how controlling he was of me from the beginning. I even had one of the ladies who did my pre-sentencing investigation at the federal level said, 'All I did was read letters that he sent you, and I could tell there were control issues. He talks about your weight, he talks about who you can talk to.'

"She said, 'Those were huge red flags to me just reading the letters.'

"I didn't really recognize them until I was removed from the relationship, because it just got worse after that when he came back.

"I was threatened by him. He would be angry with me if I would leave or threaten to go out and do something stupid if I would leave, so I was his 100 percent by the end of it. I didn't do anything without his permission. I couldn't even get a text message on my phone without him checking it.

"Not that he hasn't been in some ways a victim. When I say I crossed the line, I was a teacher, he was a student. There were some ways he was put in a victim situation in this, but not near to the extent that people would like to say he is. I sometimes feel like I've been the victim in a lot of ways myself."
Leaving Lexington

"The day I got my letter that I had been put on administrative leave was on a Thursday. ... He was like, 'Well, we could just go to Mexico,' and I looked at him and was like, 'You're nuts, that's stupid. I can't just go to Mexico.' And I didn't think about it again that day. I just thought about what I was going to do about all this.

"Then that Friday, I was an emotional mess. I was like, 'I need to get out of this town. I don't know what to do.' So we went out this camp area that we had gone to before. I was just trying to take in the fact that my life was falling apart around me and I couldn't do anything about it.

"His phone rang and his dad left him a message to call him and that Officer Naputi was looking for him, which is a detective around here. So about half an hour later, he calls back and he said to Fernando, 'I need to see you at my office by 4:30.'

"Fernando has been in trouble with the law so many times that his first reaction is get out of here. I'm panicking and he's saying, 'We gotta get out of here, Kelsey. Let's just go to Mexico. This will all blow over, and we'll just get out of here.'

"I can remember sitting there like, 'I don't think that we can just go.' And then, at the same time, I didn't have any other answers. I had never been in trouble in my life and was just freaking out. He was like, 'Let's hurry up and go back to your house and get your stuff.'

"And he goes out to my car, and he's just throwing everything out of my car. He starts packing my bags and he's just throwing stuff in my bags, in my room.

"He looks at me and he says, 'We'll be back. We'll go to Mexico. The school is already going to fire you. We'll just go and come back in a few months. You know my parents aren't going to call the cops. It's not that big of a deal. They're going to know where I'm at. We'll just go and come back.'

"In 20 minutes we went from making that decision to in the car leaving.

"I'm crying the whole time we're backing out of the driveway. I'm crying the whole way down the interstate. As we're driving and I'm bawling, he looked at me and was like, 'Babe, I just want to tell you that you're saving my life because I would either end up in jail or I'd be dead if I stayed in Lexington.'

"I agreed for the most part. That probably was his options staying around here because he had already planned to drop out of school. I think I was the only one convincing him that he needed to stay in school."


On the Road

"A lot of people assumed we were literally running, but we weren't running from anything, really, because there was no one really looking for us. I wasn't thinking that I was running from the cops. ... I was escaping Lexington in general because I knew I was losing my job.

"I didn't know what else to do, but I didn't really think I was running from a warrant, let alone the FBI. That was the last thing that crossed my mind.

"We did shut our phones off. I shut my phone off because my family was calling me over and over again, because I was supposed to be home, and I couldn't live with the guilt.

"Anyway, at 2 in the morning, we were driving through Colorado and his mom ... called his cell phone. She knew we were gone, she knew why we were gone, she knew where we were going, basically. She's the one that said, 'You're going to get caught with your cell phones if they do start looking for you.'"
Punishment

"I understand that there are penalties for what I've done, and I totally am OK with taking responsibility for my actions. I do believe that I deserve some kind of punishment.

"Do I think it's been a little exceeded? Yeah, a little. I think the media has made this 10 times worse and blown the story so far out of proportion, not just for me, but for him, for his family, for my family.

"It's not just me that's being punished here. Everyone is being punished, and I don't know how fair it is to everyone else.

"I am so not excusing what I've done, at all. I crossed the line as a teacher, and I know that.

"I've had so many people say, 'You would have had probation if you would have just stayed home.' Now I'm sitting in prison for six years, and that was for seven days of my life.

"Sometimes I get so irritated, because I didn't really want to go. It wasn't something I wanted to do. I was so naive that I had no idea it would cause so many problems."


Peterson's daughter

"This is where it gets emotional for me a lot. I would have never done anything to jeopardize my daughter. She was like, No. 1 in my life for 81/2 years, and then it was almost like I was pulled between him and her. He was the one I had to answer to basically in the end of it, so I always tried to make him happy first.

"She has a lot of anger towards him. She knows that I've done something wrong. The way everyone else sees me, she will eventually put together that that's the way I'm viewed, but to her, he was the guy who made her mommy cry all the time. She never saw him physically touch me, but she saw the emotional damage that it caused. I cried all the time by the end of it.

"I think that is where most of my guilt lays, is that she had to see the destruction that it had in my life."


After prison

"That's probably my biggest fear. I don't know what I would say to him. Of course, there are still mixed emotions. The day we got arrested ... we sat in a room for about four hours waiting for the United States to come and get me. An officer came in and said 'You have 10 minutes to say your goodbyes.'

"Fernando took a ring off my finger and put it on his, and he said, 'I'm going to wear this until you get out.' He looked at the officer and he said, 'I love her and I'm going to marry her when she gets out, and I don't care how long she goes to jail.'

"By this time, we were both crying, and I told him I loved him, and we walked away.

"So then when you ask if I'll see him again, I have so many mixed emotions. A part of me, of course, still cares about him, but I am so hurt by the betrayal that has now gone on and all the lies. The affidavits they sent to the federal government are just full of lies.

"They're getting crime victim visas for this, so I guess they have to play as much of the victim as they can."
Life after prison

"I grew up in a Christian home, and I really walked away from that for a while, especially when I was with him.

"I look at it now, and just think I was so lost in all that. In the last year, I have been able to find my relationship with Jesus Christ so much more than I ever had before, and I really want to use that in whatever I do now, whether that's Christian counseling or there's something out there that I'm called to do where I can still use my teaching ability for good. That's what I've always wanted, was just to help people, whether it's by writing a book or being a counselor or whatever."

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2 ... d=10498007