Former Texas teacher Tanya Ramirez, 31, pleaded guilty to the second degree felony charge of having an improper relationship with a student in exchange for seven years of probation. Ramirez then turned around and filed a defamation lawsuit against the mother of the student with whom she admitted to the purported sexual misconduct. Ramirez may even sue the student for invasion of privacy.
According to the Corpus Christi NBC affiliate (KRIS 6), Ramirez, who taught at King High School, admitted to having sex with one student but pleaded “no contest” to the charge involving a second student. As part of a January 11 plea agreement, the court ordered Ramirez to seven years of probation. She also must surrender her teaching license and pay a $4,000 fine, in lieu of serving up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. However, she will not have to register as a sex offender.
In August, Breitbart Texas reported Ramirez was charged with allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old male student in 2014. She turned herself in to the Nueces County jail after the purported male student provided authorities with a cellphone video that captured an identifying eight inch tattoo on a woman in a questionably compromising position. Ramirez was about to plead “no contest” at that time in exchange for probation but changed her mind in court because she disagreed with conditions the prosecutors wanted to impose, including pleading guilty instead of “no contest,” which also meant she would have surrendered her teaching license, which she did not, at the time. Regardless, the Corpus Christi Independent School District terminated her contract.
The State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) launched a review of Ramirez’s teaching certification under their Professional Discipline Unit. The Breitbart Texas article noted that Texas Education Agency (TEA) spokeswoman Lauren Callahan explained that teachers who avoid convictions in these cases can theoretically keep their teacher certifications if any governmental body, including TEA’s investigations unit, SBEC’s legal team, and a state administrative judge, seek settlements.
The alleged victim’s mother spoke to local news media last summer, calling for Ramirez to have to register as a sex offender and be barred from teaching.
Meanwhile, the Corpus Christi Caller Times reported that prosecutors tacked on a second charge of sexual misconduct, stemming from another student. However, both students were at least 17-years-old and Ramirez would therefore not have to register as a sex offender. In September, her attorneys, Amie Pratt and Christopher Gale, denied the accusations, saying “Our client is dismayed at the additional, untrue allegations and looks forward to her day in court.”
In an ironic twist, Ramirez’s lawyers filed a defamation lawsuit in August against the boy’s mother, Kimberly Tademy, for accusing Ramirez of sexual misconduct with other students and calling her a child sex predator, the Caller Times added. Ramirez claims that Tademy went to various local news outlets and called Ramirez a “sexual predator,” accusing of her of sleeping with other students as well as her son, KRIS 6 reported. Ramirez claims these comments caused her emotional distress and led to her losing a job at a local Jiu Jitsu academy. Ramirez may also sue the student victim for invasion of privacy, claiming it was he who filmed their sexual encounter and then shared it, according to the Corpus Christi NBC affiliate.
Previously, Ramirez’s attorneys argued the case before 28th District Judge Nanette Hasette that the charges should be dismissed because Ramirez had a right to engage in intimacy under the U.S. Constitution, that the student was legally an adult, that the student and Ramirez were consenting adults, and he was not her student.
Follow Merrill Hope on Twitter @OutOfTheBoxMom.