RIVERSIDE — A Corona high school teacher accused of engaging in sex acts with five male students gave up her right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday and will go directly to trial.
Centennial High School special education instructor Summer Michelle Hansen, 31, was arrestedJune 20, and according to the Corona-Norco Unified School District, is on unpaid administrative leave from her job.
She has an information arraignment on March 25 at the Riverside Hall of Justice, and her trial could begin as soon as late June, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Hansen could face up to 13 years behind bars if convicted of seven counts of oral copulation of a minor, six counts of statutory rape and three counts of distributing pornographic material to a child.
Hansen, whose teaching credentials have been suspended, is free on a $150,000 bond.
Defense attorney David Cohn told reporters in August that his client “did not have any sexual relations — period — with any of the boys.”
The alleged victims were all students at the school, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
“The crimes are alleged to have taken place from May 2012 through May 2013, and took place in her classroom, in a utility room at the school, in her vehicle while parked near one victim’s home, and at another victim’s home,” said D.A.’s office spokesman John Hall.
A bail-setting affidavit filed by prosecutors alleges that Hansen had oral sex with a student who was in her classroom for Saturday school; sent a former student texts that were “sexual in nature”; sent students cell phone photos of herself naked; and had sex with two students on campus.
One 17-year-old boy said Hansen initially contacted him about a school function. “However, the texting and phone calls turned to flirting and eventually kissing on two separate occasions and then to having sexual intercourse in her classroom after school hours,” the affidavit alleges.
Several alleged victims said they didn’t know how Hansen got their phone numbers.
According to Cohn, his client’s phone was hacked, and she didn’t send any of the alleged messages or photos.
In mid-June, school district officials notified the Corona Police Department about a possible inappropriate relationship between Hansen and a former student, culminating in a wider investigation.
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