In an offense that Oklahoma rape lawyers are seeing with increasing frequence, another female Oklahoma teacher has been arrested after an alleged sexual relationship with one of her students.
Teacher and Student
Early Saturday morning, Erin Kathleen Queen, 27, was arrested at the Candlewood Suites in Tulsa, where she was discovered with a 17-year-old student. Queen, an English teacher and ninth grade girls' basketball coach at Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, was arrested on a first degree rape complaint after allegedly arranging a hotel tryst with her student.
According to media reports, the student was supposed to be staying at a friend's house on Friday night. His parents went to the friend's home to make sure their son was there, but he was not. When they still had not found him by 4:30 Saturday morning, they called police. Allegedly, the parents discovered their son with Queen at the Tulsa hotel and notified police.
Police say Queen admitted to sexual intercourse with the student, and she was arrested on a first degree rape complaint at 5:30 a.m. She was booked into Tulsa County Jail and released on $50,000 bond. According to the police, sex between the teacher and student was consensual; however, Oklahoma law prohibits a sexual relationship between a student and a teacher or employee of the same district.
Oklahoma's Legal Age of Consent Law
Oklahoma's age of consent is 16; however, Oklahoma law stipulates certain exceptions to the age of consent.
Lawyers point to the statutes outlining those who are not legally able to give consent. Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes states that rape charges are applicable if ". . . the victim is at least sixteen (16) years of age and is less than eighteen (18) years of age and is a student, or under the legal custody or supervision of any public or private elementary or secondary school, junior high or high school, or public vocational school, and engages in sexual intercourse with a person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older and is an employee of the same school system."
Statutory Rape Charges
This statutory provision for a rape charge, regardless of consent, includes sex between a person in custody or under supervision of a state, federal, county, or municipal agency and any employer or contractor of that agency. It is important to remember that there are several stipulations that eliminate a person's legal capability of consent to sexual activity, including age, mental defect, use of intoxicants, legal custody, or legal supervision.
If you ignore these statutory considerations in the face of verbal consent, you may find yourself in need of a statutory rape lawyer in Oklahoma.