MARCH 4, 2014 BY JOHN ASBURY
Centennial High School teacher Summer Hansen in court Tuesday to waive her preliminary hearing on sex charges. (KURT MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A Corona teacher was ordered Tuesday, March 4, to stand trial on charges that she had sex with five minor students at Centennial High School.
In an unusual move, Summer Hansen waived her preliminary hearing, meaning the prosecution and defense did not have to lay out the basics of their case for the judge to determine if Hansen should face trial.
Defense attorney David Cohn acknowledged there was enough evidence to hold Hansen to trial, and said he chose to waive the preliminary hearing because prosecutors planned to call only police to testify, not the alleged victims.
He said once he is able to question the accusers on the stand, he can prove Hansen’s innocence.
“It was a strategy,” he said. “It saves her the emotion of going through those allegations rehashed. We’re not getting any benefit of doing the prelim today.”
Hansen, 31, was a special education teacher at Centennial until she was arrested in June and charged with 16 felonies, including six counts of unlawful sex with a minor. None of her accusers was in her special education classes.
She has pleaded not guilty. Her attorney has accused the students of lying about their relationships with Hansen, and says her phone was hacked.
The school district placed Hansen on unpaid leave, and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has suspended her teaching credential.
Hansen is free from jail on $150,000 bond. During Tuesday’s brief court appearance, her previously blond hair now dark brown, she did not speak.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Helios Hernandez ordered Hansen to face trial and scheduled another arraignment for March 25. A trial date could be set in June.
The Centennial High principal reported the allegations to police in June. An 18-year-old former student said Hansen had sent him photos of herself dressed in lingerie while he was still a student and underage. He said two other teens had sex and oral sex with Hansen, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant.
A total of five boys said they had sexual relationships with Hansen while they were minors. The students said the encounters happened after school and on weekends, including inside Hansen’s classroom at least three times, in another room at the school, in her car and at a student’s home.
One victim said that in May 2013, he stayed after class during Saturday school and she began to fondle him and performed oral sex in the classroom, according to the affidavit.
Another 17-year-old student said he lost his virginity to Hansen in her classroom. A third student said he began getting suggestive text messages, which led to sex in her classroom.
Hansen’s attorney denied the allegations and said she has passed a psychological evaluation. Cohn also has had experts examine the text messages that he blames on phone hackers.
“I feel confident in her innocence,” Cohn said.
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