Betrayal - S1: E4 - Damages

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

A 2010 Kell High School graduate explains how Spencer skillfully ingratiated himself with teenagers and normalized inappropriate communication. Then, the sexual assault victim’s civil attorney a...ddresses the case against the school district in Cobb County, Georgia. He walks through how after-school clubs and the failure to follow specific protocols created an environment for a sexual predator to operate at Kell High School.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:01:21 He wanted to be one of the kids he He wanted to fit in and it worked. We were like, oh, this guy is letting us get away with pretending we're in this club and getting credit for it. That's awesome. Let's all do it. We're all president. Let's go.
Starting point is 00:01:35 And we all thought it was super funny and it was just kind of like a running joke. So the idea of that carrying on for other reasons is terrifying. I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is Betrayal. Episode 4. Damages. Episode 4. Damages.
Starting point is 00:02:06 In the summer of 2021, Jennifer texted our show's production team. There was news about Spencer's parole. Jennifer was in the car on location at work. Well, you know, when I emailed Spencer the other day, he said that he was having his parole hearing today. So I don't know. It's just really affected my whole nervous system knowing that I may find out today that he's getting out soon.
Starting point is 00:02:33 Oh my God. And I'm not really prepared for that yet. What went through your mind? I feel like he was just put in prison. And now he's already getting out. It's hard because with him in there, I felt safer with him coming out, not so much. I'm sorry, John.
Starting point is 00:02:58 He got some time off of his sentence for good behavior. He's been a teacher's aide and I'm sure he's been leading Bible studies and so he's already gotten several months knocked off of his sentence and he goes in front of the parole board today. I don't know how it works but I mean what if he gets out tomorrow? You know, do you know if anybody gets to write a letter to Semitic and the parole? Because I imagine the victim of the sexual assault must be made aware that he's up for parole, right?
Starting point is 00:03:35 Well, I mean, I think the victim has to be told when he gets released. How were you approached for all? Or was it a thing that you could kind of kept at arms length? I kind of have been keeping it at arm's length. I just don't want to think about it. I just hate being this person on set. You know a couple people are like you're kind of quiet today, Jennifer, and you know I don't want to be that moat beat person. I just can't help it right now. You know, it's like when you get past heartache, you know, usually gets move on. And, um, I just feel like
Starting point is 00:04:21 I'm going to be starting back over again for a little bit. It was him out. Then knowing that he's out. Getting past the heartache and starting over, it's something that Jennifer and the sexual assault victim had to do. Both described shame as a big hurdle. Even when you know you aren't the guilty party. Jennifer would feel it when she was out in public. People are looking at me
Starting point is 00:04:53 and kind of, oh, that's her. I've gotten a lot of those looks before. Oh, your husband was the one. Oh, your her. The one. Oh, your fur. The sexual assault victim had her anonymity that didn't protect her from shame. Just turning on the television after Spencer's arrest revealed how some community members viewed her. You don't always know what the truth is. I mean, someone can say something about somebody just to hurt their reputation you don't know.
Starting point is 00:05:23 I would always want to know the history of this person making the complain as well. You know what kind of history do they have? Could they provoke something like that? Perhaps it's the reason the victim was fearful to come forward sooner. After Spencer Haren was arrested, the victim never heard from any school official. Not one person reached out to ask how she was doing. Even with Spencer behind bars, the victim had an uphill battle. Eventually, Jennifer would learn how he abused his role as a teacher and mentor and became a predator in the halls of Kel High School.
Starting point is 00:05:56 My name is Mike Grafie. I'm a lawyer in Atlanta, and I help people. Mike's a civil attorney. The Central Saul victims' parents reached out to him because they wanted to pursue a case against Kell High School. Most of our cases are people who are critically or seriously injured and a small percentage of our cases are people who like this client are victims of sexual assault in places like hospitals, apartment complexes, hotels, and schools. Mike and one of his colleagues went to meet the victim and her parents at their home.
Starting point is 00:06:29 When we left my client's house, we started reading a text message log that had been given to the police. And there was a lot. It was straight out of DeKetchup predator. Reading this chat history as a 30-something-year-old, I felt like I was Chris Hanson. I can see the manipulation. I can see the terms that are being used, the words that are being twisted and so on. This is one of those cases that we left that house and said,
Starting point is 00:06:59 this is really fucked up, and we have to do something. I'm actually my blood's boiling right now. I was telling the story because I remember we left the house so angry. And I'm still angry, maybe even angrier, to this day. As the sexual soft victim from Kell High School sought therapy and support for what happened to her, she began to fully grasp how she had been manipulated, abused. She was angry. Angry that Kell High School had never addressed it in a meaningful way. Mike Raffee spent a lot of time piecing together how it happened. It took him down a path
Starting point is 00:07:37 of investigating Kell High School's after-school clubs. The clubs were key to Spencer getting the victim alone without raising suspicion. The way it's supposed to work is that students are supposed to get together and say we'd like to have a club. We're really interested in this. They would then go to a faculty member who probably has an interest in the club or at least helps spur that interest and say we really like you to be our leader for this club. Would you please do that? There has to be a certain number of signatures
Starting point is 00:08:07 showing student involvement. Parents have to agree that if this club was created, then my child would be allowed to participate in the club. There's a budgeting component to it, and then there's administrator approval. And the faculty advisor has to submit a plan of what is the goal, the purpose of this plan? How will we execute it?
Starting point is 00:08:26 Then the administration is supposed to formally approve or disapprove it. Spencer had a history of sponsoring clubs, but some of them were fake. My name is Julia, and Co-Taren was my high school video productions teacher, graduated from Cal High School in 2010. I had him for my junior year and my senior year. A lot of my best friends had him, freshman and sophomore two, so I always knew of him and I wanted to be in this class because it was a sought after program.
Starting point is 00:08:59 It was a cool class to be a part of. Even when I didn't have him, we would hang on his classroom and in the edit rooms. Everyone who had him loved him, he was the fun class, the fun teacher, the fun program. You got to be on the announcement. You got to work on these cool projects and like kind of roam the hallways and get some B-roll while other kids are, you know, sitting in their classes learning about history or math. It didn't feel like a class. When I was a junior,
Starting point is 00:09:31 Coach Aaron started a fake club. And we all put it on our, it wasn't your resume, but we put, you know, President and movie club, it was called movie club, you know, on the chair of movie club, which it was all a fake club. I think called Movie Club. You know, on the chair of Movie Club, which it was all a fake club. I think we took like a picture together for it, maybe in the yearbook, I don't know,
Starting point is 00:09:51 I'd have to, like, but it wasn't real, we never met. It was like a, it was really fake, like it was pretend. Why would a teacher make up a school club? Because he wanted us to think he was cool. He wanted to be one of the kids, he wanted to fit in, and it worked. We were like, oh, this guy is letting us get away with pretending we're in this club
Starting point is 00:10:07 and getting credit for it, that's awesome. Let's all do it, we're all president. Let's go. And we all thought it was super funny and it was just kind of like a running joke. So the idea of that carrying on for other reasons is terrifying. Hi, my name is Cooper and I'm a mini golden doodle from Crocodoodles.
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Starting point is 00:11:05 But if you don't believe me, Jess asked Bentley. He's British, so he knows what he's talking about. Cooper is quite right. Are we coming all different breeds and sizes in personalities? Plus, we have a 3 year health guarantee. So, check us out at Crocododles.com and apply for the perfect addition to your family now. I shouldn't lie around while we're here.
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Starting point is 00:13:03 In 2015, Spencer sponsored a drone club. It began as a real club with real members and real meetings, students even had funraisers but they would sell t-shirts and videos so they could purchase a real drone. The problem was, the club never went through official channels, and was never authorized. If you have a club that doesn't go through this process, then you don't have that oversight and you don't have any of that guidance, you don't have the faculty member answering or reporting to their administration. Instead, you have the faculty member being able to do whatever it is that he wants, whenever he wants to, and that's what happened here.
Starting point is 00:13:43 Eventually, the drone club died out and stopped having meetings, but Spencer continued to see one member of the club. It continued to be a time and a place in a school where a teacher had full access to some place to take a student without the student having to leave school grounds, because typically when you leave school grounds, you gotta tell your parents where you're going. So this teacher has a perfect opportunity
Starting point is 00:14:08 to lure a student into a place where they won't be caught and where they can do whatever he wants to do. It wasn't what she wanted to do. It was what he wanted to do. And what he wanted to do was take advantage of Mike's client. If you remember when you were a kid, every once in a while, and a minister will come in your classroom
Starting point is 00:14:26 and watch your teacher. That's the administration taking an active role to make sure that these teachers are doing their jobs, that they're effectively conveying their message to students that they're disciplining students properly, that everything that's going on in the classroom is the way it should. If you have a club that doesn't go through this process,
Starting point is 00:14:44 then you don't have that oversight and you don't have any of that guidance, you don't have the faculty member answering or reporting to their administration. KELL High School's administrators deny all knowledge of the drone club. There was nothing to oversee because it didn't officially exist as a school club. He's flying a drone over the school at football games to get drone shots for the drone club, which isn't supposed to exist. So the skeptic in me says the school did know there was a club.
Starting point is 00:15:16 They just didn't give a crap. They knew there was a club. They actively participated in the club. They benefited from the club. They allowed the club, but they just didn't feel or didn't care enough to go through the process of properly authenticating it and then properly monitoring it and making sure that students weren't in danger. Was it because Spencer Heron was a department head or trusted faculty member? No one knows. Mike points out that there is an administrator
Starting point is 00:15:43 whose job it is to supervise after school clubs. The vice principal student stoutered. It's her job to authenticate clubs and to monitor them. And when she's sitting in her office listening to the PA system and it says there's a drone club meeting today or the drone club meeting is canceled. Or if you'd like to join the drone club, isn't she saying what the fuck is this drone club? What is going on? We don't join the drone club. Isn't she saying, what the fuck is this drone club?
Starting point is 00:16:05 Well, what is going on? We don't have a drone club. Yeah, Mike gets heated. Think about all those students that had text message conversations through the years with them. Think about all the parents who probably knew. Oh, Spencer Herron's so nice.
Starting point is 00:16:19 He texts my daughter. He's talking to my daughter. When they go to college, you think those text messages stayed completely appropriate? When When they go to college, you think those text messages stayed completely appropriate? When Mike mentioned this to me, I felt a pit in my stomach. I felt too similar to my conversation with Julia. Him and I used to play words with friends together, which seemed super innocent. But he would message on the sidebar, things like,
Starting point is 00:16:43 you should come check out my new house There wasn't anything that I ever took as him hitting on me until Further down the road when the allegations came out As an 18 year old somebody in their 40s saying come check out my new house. You're like no lame I don't care about your house like I want to go out He was kind of just old. And I had no interest in that. But looking back, if I had, I'd said, sure, I would love to see your house.
Starting point is 00:17:14 There's no doubt in my mind that there was potentially an ulterior motive there. Why else would he want somebody 18 years old to come check out his new house? Her whole friend group from his class, well, all of them were contacted by Spencer after they graduated. All of these girls, every single one of them, he would message them, you know, let's get coffee, let's get drinks. Her one friend Nicole had a boyfriend and he didn't like it at all. Nicole's boyfriend actually told her to stop texting him because he was like,
Starting point is 00:17:47 this is your high school teacher, why is he asking you to go get drinks? You're 18. We were all like, oh, it's just co-chairing. All that being said, Julia was completely blindsided the day he was arrested. I was on the treadmill at the gym and his mug shot popped up on the TV in front of me. And I almost fell off of the treadmill, stopped breathing out, stopped the treadmill. And I was just like, in shock, it was terrible. And then my phone was like ding, ding, ding, ding, you know, everyone from the class of 2010, all these group messages, oh my god, did you see this about co-chair?
Starting point is 00:18:22 And everyone was in just such disbelief. You know, he would send these texts just to people potentially trying to meet up. None of my friends ever acted on it. So no one really knew. So we knew it got a little bit weird, but we weren't sure what to believe. Maybe some girl had just potentially taken it too far.
Starting point is 00:18:45 No one wanted to believe that he really did that. I'm really pessimistic about what would have happened if my client reported this without the proof that she had. Would people have believed her? Would they have said she's just a slut? She's just somebody that went out and sought out her teacher and slut with him, which is what people said anyway on Facebook boards and messaging.
Starting point is 00:19:06 I mean, she had to deal with that. Victim blaming. There was plenty of it. The defendants, the administrators in this case, argued that the victim's claims were barred by the doctrine of comparative negligence. That's a legal term that means assign blame to two or more parties based on the degree of negligence each contributed to the incident. According to that logic, the student shared in the blame when the teacher sexually assaulted her. When you have a teacher that treats you like an adult, makes you feel special, breaks a rule for you, and expects you to keep that in confidence. You're trusting each other with secrets.
Starting point is 00:19:46 He has to take a risk. And to me, that was a small risk that he was taking by saying, I'll do something bad if you're willing to let me do something bad. That's step one. Now I'm going to do something worse. Are you still okay with that? Now I'm going to do something really bad. Are you okay with that?
Starting point is 00:20:03 At that point, it's a recipe for an inappropriate relationship, especially when you add an authority figure with practice. It's an unfair fight. And if the authority figure, especially a teacher, keeps doing bad things, why are they bad? Maybe the student doesn't think they're bad because now they've been normalized, because now that's just what teachers and students do. After Spencer was charged criminally, I left a lot of students' appearance of Kell High School wondering. She was a developmental stage in her life where you are still growing and learning and she was supposed to be able to trust him and it's unfair for any of this to fall back on her. She was only a girl. She was manipulated and he took advantage of a young girl who was vulnerable and believed in somebody
Starting point is 00:20:56 that she was supposed to believe in. My parents were so thankful that, you know, it wasn't me, but We're so thankful that it wasn't me, but they almost felt a little scared for themselves. So it's like, you know, we trusted this man around our daughter, you know, that's scary. And what is also scary is how little information was given to the community itself. As far as I know, there hasn't been any investigative report accessible to the public. There hasn't been any disclosures made. There hasn't been any investigative report accessible to the public. There hasn't been any disclosures made, there hasn't been anything. It's almost like this just didn't happen. And that's really, really scary because it certainly isn't the only time.
Starting point is 00:21:36 I was curious about why the victim sued three school administrators instead of the school itself. So in Georgia, you can't sue the school. That's a weird rule we have. You can't sue the school board. I have to sue on behalf of my client administrators. So I have to sue people. I have to sue the supervisors or the authority in those positions. And I have to prove that those individual people did things wrong. We don't want to sue them. We want to sue the entity, because it's the entity that's protecting them. On the legal side, this isn't a dispute about what happened. In any sense, everyone knows what happened, when it happened, and why it happened. The issue
Starting point is 00:22:15 is does the law allow my client to recover, to get justice in the civil justice system. And so far, the answer's been no. Basically, they lost in court, but they are appealing. Lawyers say this all the time about their cases. I'm proud to have represented so and so. When lose draw, I don't care. I'm just glad that she knows that someone will stick up for her because that's part of the problem here. In Georgia, to hold a public servant, which includes teachers, responsible for something in their
Starting point is 00:22:49 job capacity, you have to show that there was a rule, a capital R rule. And a capital R rule is a rule that requires no discretion, thought, or judgment. The public servant must follow it. And if they don't follow the rule, then they can be held accountable. And we were able to show that. We were able to show that there was a rule in terms of how these clubs must be authorized and how they must be monitored. We were able to show that that rule existed and that that rule was violated.
Starting point is 00:23:17 Here's the problem. What the judge said was, even though the rule was violated, it's not a negligent violation of the rule. I am still trying to figure out exactly what that means. The way I interpret that is that the rule was violated, but it's not a big deal. So the administrators poorly performed. They didn't do what they were supposed to do, but it doesn't rise to a breach of their duties.
Starting point is 00:23:45 I interpret that to mean they're the worst employees in the school, but they still aren't gonna get fired, I guess? You know, you have that really poor performer in your office who barely gets by. The court seemed to agree with the school district's argument. That because some of the sexual conduct occurred outside the school, they couldn't be held accountable. We acknowledge the fact that there were physical acts done outside of school grounds, but every single instance where there was physical sexual conduct at school, I believe, is a separate instance of harm. Hi, my name is Cooper and I'm a mini golden doodle from Crocodoodles.
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Starting point is 00:27:00 The law in Georgia is that it's up to the impartial conscience of the jury. Basically 12 people are going to sit around and figure it out. What I think that the pain and suffering, the physical violation, the embarrassment for my client who still lives in the community, you know, those damages don't just stop. That's gotta be devastating. Her feelings weren't manipulated, and her sense of reality and worth has drastically, drastically deteriorated. And I don't know how anyone could possibly blame her.
Starting point is 00:27:37 And I'll ask a jury to think about the ways that relationship affects a person and that self-worth affects someone and put a value on that. But Michael only be able to ask the jury if the court grants their appeal. And as it turns out, in an interesting twist, the defendants also appealed on the one point Mike's client prevailed. They are fighting that violating a rule written in their own policy and procedures and manuals. They're saying, we don't always have to follow those rules.
Starting point is 00:28:12 Imagine if you're a parent in Cobb County and you have the administration saying, we have these rules but we're going to go to the Supreme Court of Georgia and say, we don't really have to follow them. It can't be easy for parents. Just a few weeks before we spoke with Mike Rayvee, a teacher at another Cobb County High School, Osborne High School, was arrested for having sexual intercourse
Starting point is 00:28:35 with a student in his office. That teacher is in jail. I wanted us to get together because I was just really curious what were your thoughts after hearing all of that. My biggest thing is if we don't educate people, students, teachers, administrators, if we don't educate them on what signs to look for, then it's going to keep happening over and over and over.
Starting point is 00:29:06 There are so much trust put into teachers. Instead of sweeping it under the rug and acting like it didn't happen and just moving on, we need to somehow bring in that education into the schools and make people more aware of what happens and how it happens. I think that a lot of people have preconceived notions about relationships between high school students and their teachers.
Starting point is 00:29:38 They make assumptions. People really don't think about what it's actually like. Your ex-husband Spencer, he's obviously well versed in sex and relationships, and this girl, she had no idea what she was doing. Yeah, I think back to when I was in high school, you're at school, you're with someone that everybody is looking up to and admiring, and then all of a sudden that person starts making you feel really good Meanwhile, she's in the halls of Cal High School wanting to scream at the top of her lungs what she's experiencing. She is so alone in this because she can tell nobody It's so sad that this happens. We all did research leading up
Starting point is 00:30:28 to this interview and there was one study published by the Department of Education that I think all of us were impacted by and I kind of want to read it here. It says that 10% of school students will be victims of some form of teacher sexual misconduct that can range from sexual assault to inappropriate comments, exposure to pornography, 10% to that's millions of kids. It's insane. I don't think you can just hold one person responsible.
Starting point is 00:31:02 I think it's got to be a big effort. What did you think of the lawyer, Mike Rayfeen? I understand that when it comes to lawsuits and all of that, it's very tough. I appreciate what he's doing because what happened here is so much bigger than people realize. I was pretty taken aback that one of the school administrators' offenses was comparative negligence, meaning that the student was partially responsible.
Starting point is 00:31:39 For the administration to use that term, think about the victim hearing that and how that feels, that she's supposed to take some of that responsibility on? That's not fair. And I think that sends an awful, awful message out to the community, to the victim, to everybody else. How dare they try to victim blame? And victim blame a child. Earlier in this episode of Betrayal, we heard about the possibility of Spencer being released
Starting point is 00:32:15 on parole. Jennifer wrote to Spencer and asked him to let her know what happened at the parole hearing. Few weeks later, he emailed. I have some disappointing news that I wanted to share with you. I recently received a letter from the parole board stating that my tentative parole month date has been rescinded. The decision was made, quote, due to the welfare of society. This was very disturbing and upsetting, to say the least. The kids are doing okay with the news.
Starting point is 00:32:53 Thank God they are so strong. The parole board does not have to tell anyone anything, and they certainly don't have to tell anyone why an inmate was denied or delayed parole. In the letter, he expressed frustration. He had served 65% of his time, and that's what his lawyer, the judge, and prosecutor agreed on. But he wasn't getting out, and he didn't know the reason.
Starting point is 00:33:19 Maybe the truth was too hard for him to consider. Turns out, the sexual assault victim wrote a letter to the parole board, and hand-delivered it for self. She urged the board not to release Spencer, saying that it wouldn't be good for the welfare of society. On the next episode of The Trial, a woman explains to Jennifer how one tax from Spencer Heron led to a torrid, multi-year affair. I don't even remember what the initial start of the conversation was, but then a comment was made about, well, you're beautiful, something to that extent.
Starting point is 00:34:10 And that's kind of where it started. Here's an attractive guy telling me I'm gritty. You know, I remember feeling like, oh my God, what's happening. But then at the same time, I didn't do anything to stop it. And the shocking behavior that she shares with Jennifer. There was a very dominating side to him.
Starting point is 00:34:30 I remember a couple of times where you know, you would kind of put his hands around my throat and push down. If you'd like to reach out to the betrayal team, team, email us at BetrayalPod at gmail.com. That's BetrayalPOD at gmail.com. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group and partnership with IHAR Podcasts. The show was executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fasim, hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning, Written and produced by Carrie Hartman,
Starting point is 00:35:07 also produced by Ben Fetterman. Our I Heart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crinchick, special thanks to voice actor Todd Gans, sound editing and mixing done by Matt DeVecchio, a trails theme composed by Oliver Baines, music library provided by My Music, and for more podcasts from I Heart, visit the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast
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