10 Most Dangerous Teachers Who Ended Up In Prison

10 - Stephanie Peterson

Stephanie Peterson, also known as Stephanie Ferri, was a 26-year old science teacher at New Smyrna Beach Middle School in Florida.

Peterson began a relationship with an eighth-grade student at the school in November 2017 and was accused of sending the student photographs via social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram.

She would pick the student up from his home late at night, usually around 11 p.m., while her husband was at work and then return him early in the morning so that nobody would notice.

Peterson was arrested by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office in February 2018 after the relationship came to light when the boy's grades began to suffer and he eventually disclosed the situation to his parents.

The boy reported that Peterson would provide him with various smoking paraphernalia while at her home and it was later revealed in court that Peterson was in the midst of a manic state during the relationship.

Peterson resigned from her position shortly before her arrest and was initially charged with two counts of lewd or lascivious battery and one count of transmission of harmful materials to a minor.

In December 2018, Peterson entered a plea agreement and was sentenced by Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano to 36-months in State Prison, 2-years of house arrest following her release, 5-years of probation and permanent registration as a sex offender.

During the sentencing, Peterson expressed regret for her actions, while the victim's mother testified about the significant emotional and social toll the incident had taken on her son.

9 - Rebecca Joynes

Rebecca Joynes was a well-liked mathematics teacher from Salford, Greater Manchester at a secondary school in the city.

Grooming two pupils from the age of 15, the first boy was asked to guess the digits of her phone number in October 2001 before later inviting him back to her flat and took him on a shopping trip to the Trafford Centre.

She was caught, thanks mainly in-part to CCTV and while on police bail for her actions involving the first student, Joynes began a relationship with a second pupil.

This relationship continued after she was suspended from her teaching post and resulted in her becoming pregnant. She gave birth to a child in early 2024.

On July 4th, 2024, Rebecca Joynes was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. In addition to her custodial sentence, the court ruled that she must have lifetime registration as a sex offender.

A 10-year sexual harm prevention order was also imposed at the sentencing hearing, while a restraining order that prohibits contact with both victims was also imposed.

During sentencing, Judge Kate Cornell described Joynes' actions as having a "breathtaking arrogance," emphasizing that she had abused a significant position of trust and ignored police bail conditions to continue her predatory behavior.

Victim impact statements read in court highlighted the "massive mental toll" the abuse took on the boys and their families. One victim described being "coerced, controlled, and manipulated," noting that the experience had "torn his family apart."

A Teaching Regulation Agency professional conduct panel met in late 2025 and decided to impose an indefinite prohibition order, permanently banning Joynes from teaching in any school, college or children’s home in England.

8 - Helen Goddard

Nicknamed "The Jazz Lady," public school music teacher Helen Goddard would often take one of her students for coffee after music lessons, but there was far more going on behind the scenes of these friendly teacher-student meet-ups.

Goddard had entered into a lesbian affair with the 15-year-old pupil and soon the student was spending time at the teachers flat, sometimes for up to 48 hours on weekends.

Goddard, who played at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in the year 2000, told the girl she loved her and even took her on a trip to Paris to discuss "personal issues" and attend a gay pride march.

The teenager would tell her parents she was going to stay over at friends' houses when she was spending nights with Goddard who told her housemates that the girl was a student.

The affair was discovered after rumour spread through the school and an anonymous email was sent from "a concerned parent," which led to a police investigation and Goddard's subsequent arrest.

When officers raided Goddard's home in Greenwich they found the teenager with the 26-year-old and seized various items that included a pair of "fluffy handcuffs" and messages on the students phone.

At Southwark Crown Court Goddard admitted six sample counts of sexual activity with the girl between February and July 2012, and was suspended from her post at the London school and made to sign on to the sexual offenders' register for 10 years.

7 - McKenna Kindred

Working at the Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley, Washington, McKenna Kindred began a relationship with a 17-year-old student.

The relationship began in June 2022 after the student reached out to Kindred on social media and the two exchanged explicit messages and photos via Instagram.

In November 2022, the student visited Kindred's home while her husband was away where the illustrious relationship further developed.

The student would brag to his friends about the relationship and rumors soon began to circulate with the matter soon brought to the school's attention in December 2022 after other students reported the inappropriate interactions.

Kindred resigned from the Central Valley School District in April 2023 following the allegations and was arrested and charged with various offences.

In March 2024, she pleaded guilty to two gross misdemeanors including second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and communication with a minor for immoral purposes.

She was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $700 in fines but received no jail time, a recommendation supported by both the prosecution and the defense.

6 - Hailey Clifton Carmack

In the quiet town of Laquey, Missouri, the local high school became the center of a disturbing criminal investigation in late 2023.

Hailey Nichelle Clifton-Carmack, a 26-year-old math teacher and mother of two, stood at the heart of a scandal that would involve allegations of grooming, classroom "lookouts," and a flight from justice.

The case broke wide open on December 7th, 2023, when a student approached the school’s resource officer with a troubling report. According to court documents, the witness claimed that a 16-year-old male student was involved in a relationship with Clifton-Carmack.

The witness reported seeing photographs of scratch marks on the victim’s back, which the boy claimed were caused by the teacher during a sexual encounter in a driveway.

Perhaps more shocking were the allegations that Clifton-Carmack had used other students as "lookouts" during school hours to ensure she and the victim could engage in sexual activity undetected on campus.

When initially confronted by detectives on December 8, Clifton-Carmack denied the affair and handed over her phone. However, after police obtained a warrant on December 22nd, they recovered text messages that explicitly detailed the illegal relationship.

In September 2024, Clifton-Carmack reached a plea deal after being charged with child endangerment and pled guilty to sexual contact with a student, a move that voided more severe charges of statutory rape and child molestation.

She was sentenced to four years in prison. However, as part of her plea agreement, she could be eligible for early release after just 120 days if she successfully completes a sex offender rehabilitation program.

5 - Brittany Zamora

The case of Brittany Zamora, a former elementary school teacher at Las Brisas Elementary School in Goodyear, Arizona, shocked the local community and made headlines across the country.

What began as a career in education ended in a landmark criminal conviction, uncovering a disturbing breach of professional boundaries and public trust.

The case came to light in 2018 when school officials became aware of inappropriate interactions between Zamora and a 13-year-old student.

The investigation quickly revealed a systematic pattern of abuse, with evidence indicating that the relationship had been ongoing for months. In December 2018, Zamora was arrested and charged with multiple felony counts.

Zamora pleaded guilty to all four counts and was was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by lifetime probation and is currently serving her sentence at Arizona State Prison Complex Perryville in Goodyear, Arizona.

She is said to have taken up teaching within the prison and helped a number of other inmates, however, there is no chance of early release in her case.

4 - Debra LaFave

Beginning at Angelo L. Greco Middle School, 23-year-old reading teacher Debra LaFave crossed a line that would forever change her life and the life of a 14-year-old student.

The relationship between LaFave and her student reportedly began to escalate following a class trip to SeaWorld, and over the summer of 2004, authorities discovered that LaFave had engaged in encounters with the teenager on four separate occasions.

The case broke wide open when a relative of the boy spotted him in a parking lot with LaFave who had been taking him to her portable classroom, her townhouse, and drove him around in her vehicle.

Police eventually coordinated a sting operation, having the student arrange a meeting at his home. When LaFave arrived, she was surrounded by officers and taken into custody.

The case quickly became a media sensation, fueled largely by a controversial defense strategy that LaFave’s attorney, John Fitzgibbons, argue that his client was too pretty for prison.

He claimed that sending a woman of her appearance to a state penitentiary would be "like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions" and the defense also claimed LaFave suffered from bipolar disorder, which they argued contributed to her lack of judgment.

In 2005, LaFave pled guilty to two counts of lewd or lascivious battery and the victim's mother reportedly supported the plea deal to spare her son the trauma of testifying in a public trial.

The resulting sentence sparked intense debate over legal double standards with three years of house arrest, seven years of probation, lifetime registration as a sexual predator and the loss of her teaching certificate.

3 - Carrie McCandless

A 29-year-old social studies teacher and cheerleading coach, Carrie McCandless was the wife of the school’s principal and a popular, well-known teacher at her school.

What no one knew, however, was that McCandless had provided alcohol to a 17-year-old male student, Tommy Clay, during a school-sponsored camping trip to the YMCA Estes Park Center in late October 2006.

McCandless and the student had exchanged 76 text messages during their relationship, which broke wide open after an investigation in 2007.

When the news broke, the school board moved to terminate her contract, and her husband eventually resigned from his position as principal.

In June 2007, McCandless reached a plea agreement to avoid more severe felony charges and she pleaded guilty to a slew of charges including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and tampering with physical evidence.

McCandless was ordered to serve 45 days in county jail and five years of intensive supervised probation. She was also required to register as a sex offender for life.

In 2011, McCandless’s probation was revoked after she reportedly tested positive for morphine while living in Georgia and was sentenced to an additional 60 days in jail to serve the remainder of her term.

2 - Haeli Wey

A case that rocked the prestigious Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, Haeli Noelle Wey, a 28-year-old math teacher had "personal" connections with her students that extended far beyond the classroom.

Spanning across continents and into the digital shadows of social media, school administrators began receiving reports of "inappropriate electronic and social media communications in October 2015.

During the summer of 2015, Wey had accompanied the family of a 17-year-old student on a trip to Africa, where a relationship, which had been on-going for some time, became "personal and on a deeper level" during the trip.

Upon returning to Texas, the student alleged the relationship had become physical, often in Wey’s home or her vehicle at a local park and bragged to fellow students about the meetings.

The relationship suddenly ended, mainly due to a rumor that Wey was "hooking up" with another 17-year-old boy at the same school that began in September 2015.

This second student was invited to Commons Ford Park for a hike, however a third student discovered the messages on the second student’s phone and alerted authorities.

In February 2017, Haeli Wey pled guilty to two felony counts of improper relationship between an educator and a student and due to Texas law stating student-teacher relationships are illegal regardless of age, was sentenced to 10 years of deferred adjudication probation.

Remarkably, Wey was not required to register as a sex offender, however she was served 200-hours of community service and voluntarily surrendered her teaching certification.

1 - Kandice Barber

A 35-year-old teaching assistant and cover supervisor, Kandice Barber gave professional mentorship lessons in the community of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

She struck up an unhealthy relationship with a 15-year-old male student, soon sending him photographs on her phone and at least one video on Snapchat.

As the relationship progressed, the physical boundaries collapsed. Barber was accused of having sexual encounters with the boy, both in her car and in a secluded field.

The emotional impact on the victim was severe with court records, showing the student had become increasingly withdrawn, eventually confining himself to his room.

The prosecution noted that Barber had used manipulative tactics to ensure his silence, including making threats to the child to prevent him from disclosing the nature of their relationship to anyone else.

Barber went through multiple trials with the first jury finding Barber guilty of two counts related to sending the explicit Snapchat photos and video but unable to reach a verdict on more serious charges.

In her second trial during 2021, Barber was convicted of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual communication with a child and sentenced to six years and two months in prison.

The fallout continued long after her criminal sentencing with the Teaching Regulation Agency issuing a prohibition order, banning her from teaching in any school, sixth-form college, or children's home in England indefinitely.

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