Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Teacher Accused of Sex With 12-Year-Old: New Shocking Details

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

Lauren King, 32, is accused of having sex with a 12-year-old student in the back seat of her car and then giving him cash and buying him gifts. Fort Myers Police detectives say King sent thousands of texts to the boy that included nude photos and videos and even said at one point she would find a new job and leave the area. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with the attorney for the boy's family, Faudlin Pierre, and Chris Hansen, about this latest teacher accused of sex crimes with a student in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host: Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests:Chris Hansen https://twitter.com/chrishansen?lang=enFaudlin Pierre https://twitter.com/faudlinpierreCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A teacher in Florida led away in handcuffs. She's accused of having sex with a student in the backseat of her car and then buying him gifts. We'll have more on that and other disturbing details from the complaint. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Lauren King is in jail in the Fort Myers area facing charges for molesting a student who

was between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. She's also facing a count of lewd and lascivious behavior. Both of those are second degree felonies. King was a teacher at Royal Palm Exceptional School in the Fort Myers area. That boy was 12 when the alleged abuse started and police say some of it actually happened at the school. The details in the affidavit are graphic. I want to start there. King is accused of sending photos and videos of her breasts and backside and other private parts to the boy. Police say they found those

items on her phone. An affidavit says King had sex with the boy in the backseat of her car when she called him. And this happened, according to police, in the parking lot of the boy's grandmother's apartment complex. The affidavit says King bribed the boy with Beats headphones, a hoodie that he wanted for his birthday, and even sent him money on a cash app, at least $235. The affidavit quotes King's messages to the boy telling him he would be arrested. She also told him that she loved him and to delete his messages. She claimed she was going to leave the area and find a new job. I asked the attorney representing the boy's family how he's doing. He is new job. I asked the attorney representing the Boyce family how he's doing. He is now 13. I don't think he knows yet how grave and serious the

situation is. I think it's going to take a lot of years for him to recover based off of studies that are done in this area to sexual assault victims. I also asked Fadlan Pierre about this misconception that some people have that boys who are targeted by female teachers might enjoy it. If you read the affidavit, it is clear in this case, this boy did not enjoy it and he was scared. And I know you're not saying it, but some people may suggest it that, hey, we should take a different tone as to the crime that was committed by Miss King. I don't think the law recognizes a difference between the gender of the victim. It does recognize the age of the victim.

And my client was 12 years old at the time. And in no way when an authority figure who is given the ultimate responsibility of taking care of our kids can bribe a child, mislead, manipulate the child into thinking that just because he's a boy, this was supposed to happen. This is not a coming of age story. This was just a tragic story of, again, the school system who let my clients, the parents, down because they failed to protect my client as well as others from this child predator. Fadlan Pierre says the preliminary investigation shows there may be other victims of Lauren King. Preliminary, there seems to, there's some suggestions that this person engaged not only with my client, the sexually assaulted my client, but also another child as well, and also had some improprieties with a a school resource officer. So when we say that this is at the fault of the school system, we mean that because this is this could have been prevented because this person's behavior was

unfortunately known through the school. Pierre says the family is not ruling out filing a civil lawsuit against the school district. I want to bring Chris Hansen in on this. He is an expert on catching predators. He's the co-founder of True Blue. He's also the host of Takedown with Chris Hansen and the host of the podcast Predators I've Caught with Chris Hansen. Chris, we've got another female teacher, this one Lauren King. The allegations just get more and more disturbing. It's very detailed. We've got her sending pictures and videos to this 12-year-old.

I mean, this is a kid. This is not a 17-year-old, but she's in a position of power giving him gifts and money. Your thoughts? Well, this is clearly not a Romeo and Juliet situation, Anjanette. This is a case where an adult woman has, for whatever combination of reasons, identified her prey, this young boy, 12 years old, and exploited him to fulfill whatever fantasy that she's got here. And then to use her position of power, as you mentioned, and then to try to bribe the child and bribe the parents by saying, I'll leave, I'll get out of town. This child, and he is a child, no matter how tall or how mature he may look, he's a child. He could be and likely will be damaged because of this.

And this is deep psychological advantage from being exploited as a child. Most definitely. And we heard earlier from the attorney representing the child and his family, and he said he doesn't even know if the child realizes how much damage he will suffer in the future. It will sometimes take some time for the kids to realize that. I want to go through the affidavit a little bit. I mean, this is really, really disturbing stuff. This started when the boy was 12.

He's now 13. It happened at school. She was saying, come sit by me. Come sit by me. And she was doing things according to the affidavit, according to police, like rubbing him through his clothes. Then she shows up at grandma's house and tells him to get in the vehicle. And they have actual sexual intercourse in the backseat of the vehicle. I mean, this is, this is beyond brazen, actually fondling a child in the classroom. Well, it's brazen grooming, Anjanette, and it's one of the more alarming cases I've seen

of a lot of cases that have surfaced in the last year and a half or so. And you have to wonder about the screening process. Now, to be fair, I mean, who's going to think that a woman, adult woman, would be out to, you know, coerce a 12-year-old into having sexual relations? But apparently, that's something we have to worry about now. Because this did start in the classroom with touching. And it did escalate into private sexual activity. And imagine just how confusing this must be to a 12 and ultimately 13-year-old boy. And as you mentioned before, and based upon what the family's lawyer has said, they don't even know the damage that this has caused. And there will be people who say, oh, it was my little student fantasy when I was a boy

growing up, if I had a hot teacher or teacher's assistant. You know, that doesn't count here. That's not reality. The reality is this is sexual assault, sexual assault. It is grooming and predatory behavior on the part of an adult, and it will have long-lasting damaging effects. There are predators everywhere, and they can look like the person next door. That's why it's important that you have every tool you can find to keep your family safe. Truthfinder.com is something that can help you do just that. Truthfinder.com is a website that

allows you to search public records for any red flags that will help you get information about the people that you encounter each day in your life. You can log on to truthfinder.com and search a name. You will get a person's address, both past and current, any possible criminal records, results, even traffic tickets. Maybe you want to search a neighbor, a possible new friend, or someone who's going to babysit your kids. Maybe it's just someone you met at the gym or at a Pilates or yoga

class. Truthfinder will even show you sex offender statuses for people in your neighborhood. The cases I cover make it clear. You cannot be too careful and you can't take too many steps to keep you and your family safe. If you'd like to check out Truthfinder, and I think you should, you can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix and start accessing information about almost anyone. Chris, you hit on something that I think is really important here. And that's the fact that this is a woman in a position of power and it doesn't matter her age. And I think back to when I first started in the TV business and I was working all these crazy overnight hours, writing scripts and

ripping scripts. And I was a substitute teacher and I was young, but I still saw these kids, sophomores in high school, juniors in high school, seniors in high school, and they looked like kids. This is a 12 year old. And this woman is accused of preying on this kid. I want to read some of the things that she had said to him. I mean, she's saying, I love you. She's calling him babe. She's saying, I'm a hoe that gets passed around, except I'm a hoe that you can't have. And then she's acting like, you know, they've got this relationship, this thing going on. I mean, I don't know what's going on, but when I was a substitute teacher and I was a sub, I had to jump through all kinds of hoops, the fingerprints. You know, I had to do all of these things.

And I don't understand how these people are slipping through the cracks. Well, this is a particularly disturbing example, obviously, and that's why we're talking about it. But the manipulation here, the insinuation that if he won't have sexual activity with her, she'll go out and find another student. It's just so disturbing on every level. And as you mentioned, the affidavit goes on and on about how she manipulated and worked this kid over and kept him from leaving the relationship, even though he was clearly uncomfortable. Any 12, 13-year-old boy would be at some level. And then threatening him, which is even worse, saying that if we get caught, we'll both go to jail.

He's 12 or 13 years old at this point. I mean, there's a special place in hell and there's a special place in jail for anybody who would do this if the allegations are in fact proven, which based on the affidavit, it looks like there's pretty strong evidence here. It's pretty vivid. And according to the affidavit, she encouraged him to delete all of his messages. Well, exactly. And we see this in our predator investigations all the time. They know what they're doing is wrong. This isn't somebody who's impaired, who is mentally incapable of knowing right from wrong. This is a woman who passed certain classes,

got to a certain age, went through at least some minimal background check, I would think, down at Fort Myers, and acted in this most egregious manner, targeting a child. And I hope this isn't a case where there's just a slap on the wrist. We see that sometimes in the predator cases where, you know, there's probation. A message has to be sent out that this behavior will not be tolerated in our schools. It just can't be. And until, you know, we get people's attention, there will still be this element acting out, trying to fulfill this fantasy. And again, it's a larger issue as to why we're seeing so many of these cases. I have some theories as to why, but talking about this specifically, they need to set an example. This child will need help in the near term and the long term

to recover from this experience. Most definitely. He's going to need help, and they're looking to get him that help. His attorney, the attorney for his family, said they will be doing that. They're looking at the possibility of filing a civil suit. I mean, who wouldn't? I mean, this went on for some time. I think the school district needs to be held accountable here. You know, how did this happen?

I'm sure somebody saw something along the way. I mean, here's a woman who is touching the boy in class. I mean, it's hard to get away with that sort of thing. And there are rumors, according to the affidavit, and the judge even referenced this, that there may be other victims. There may be a student known as the liaison who she may have had some involvement with. You can't tell me that this happened in a vacuum. I don't believe it did. And in most of the cases we investigate, whether it's stranger adults approaching children online or whether it's known situations like the teacher-student scenario,

it's not an isolated incident. Obviously, you know, there are some allegations that she was not only grooming him, but she was also bribing him. I mean, she was giving him, according to the affidavit, a Dell computer, Beats headphones, a hoodie, $230 in cash, a Dell computer, $5 in cash to use a vending machine, you know, a black iPhone for his 13th birthday. I don't get it. I don't get how any person thinks this is. She was using her.

She was using her. Yeah. She was using her knowledge as a teacher of how children's minds work to exploit this child and perhaps others into keeping this quiet. I mean, giving him things that would be appealing to a 12 or 13-year-old boy just to keep him quiet and to keep him in this sexual relationship. It's exploitation, and it's just unbelievable that somebody would think that this would be okay. There's the crime, and there's the cover-up. And it would appear, based upon the affidavit here, there's good evidence she's guilty of both.

And to read this boy describe in detail his first sexual experiences in the backseat of this car with this woman. You can't take that back. You know, I spend a lot of time talking to survivors of crimes like this, Ingenet. And one thing they'll always tell you, I'll get pulled aside out in public or at a restaurant and somebody will say, hey, can I talk to you for a minute? I'll say, of course. And they'll say, well, this happened to me as a child. And they'll lay out the scenario. This is many times men and women who are in their 50s who've been carrying this along for all these years. And it affects their future. It affects their sexuality in terms of their sexual health. And it affects their future

relationships with people. And it goes unresolved in many cases for a long time. And that's the direct and collateral damage that predators like this woman cause. It's disturbing. And we will keep an eye on this case as it moves through the courts. Chris Hansen, thank you so much. We appreciate your time. Thank you, Anjanette. Always a pleasure.

And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you back here next time. You can download Crime Fix on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your favorite podcasts and new episodes post each weeknight at 6 Eastern time on Law and Crime's YouTube channel.

Daniel Camacho does our video editing. Our head of social media is Bobby Zoki. Our senior director of social media is Vanessa Vine. Savannah Williamson is one of our producers. Diane Kay and Alyssa Fisher book our guests and Brad Mabey is our audio editor.