An Iowa former substitute teacher, Mary Beth Haglin, has become the center of scandal in Cedar Rapids after she was caught having sexual relations with her student. Haglin is now a stripper at a local Des Moines bar and has claimed that she is the real victim of this scandal. She says that she was “duped” by the student’s elevated vocabulary.
“Many people see him as the victim and me as the perpetrator,” Haglin said. “From a psychological standpoint and from ever other standpoint, I feel like I am the victim.”
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When 24-year-old Haglin was working as a substitute teacher, one of her 17-year-old students started to leave her sweet messages, both in texts and written on post-it notes. Haglin claims that the student’s use of fancy and romantic words wooed her and made him irresistible.
“He did so with such intelligence and such an elevated vocabulary that I was completely duped by the whole faรงade,” she claimed.
Haglin said that she was able to ignore the student’s advances at first. She claimed that she refused to respond to him until shortly after she had a particularly difficult fight with her boyfriend at the time. In her “moment of weakness” she decided to respond to the student who had sent her such nice messages.
Eventually, Haglin started a nine-month relationship with the student that also included her sending sexy photos to the student. The two were found out and Haglin was promptly fired and charged with misdemeanor charges of sexual exploitation by a school employee.
Her relationship with this student has since ruined Haglin’s career. She can no longer teach and has since started working as a stripper to pay the bills. Haglin spoke out about how she feels victimized by the student’s words and wooing on Dr. Phil, whose host summed up the entire claim in one sentence.
“You have got to be dumber than a box of rocks to share naked pictures with a 17-year-old boy,” he said.
Haglin pleaded not guilty to her charges, and her trial will take place on November 14, 2016. She hopes that the court will consider moving the trial outside of Linn County Iowa, as the publicity around her scandal can prevent her from receiving a fair trial.
[H/T New York Post]
