Thibodaux teacher charged, fired over sex scandal

A Thibodaux High School teacher was charged with prohibited sexual contact with a 17-year-old student after classmates approached school administrators, according to Lafourche Parish School District spokesman Floyd Benoit.

Celeste Bergeron, 25, was charged last Wednesday with violating a law barring educators from engaging in sexual contact with students between the ages of 17 and 21 when the educator is more than four years older than the student, which is a misdemeanor, according to a joint press release issued by the Lafourche Parish Sherriff’s Office and the Lafourche Parish School District.

Seventeen is the legal age of consent in Louisiana.

If convicted, Bergeron faces up to six months imprisonment or up to $1,000 in fines, or both. Bergeron would also have to register as a sex offender for 15 years, as “prohibited sexual conduct between educator and student” is listed as a Tier 1 sex offense on the Louisiana State Police website.

School administrators were informed of the allegations by students Jan. 5, which spurred an immediate investigation, Benoit said.

Bergeron, who was in her first year teaching and was uncertified, according to Benoit, was immediately placed on leave, according to the joint press release issued by the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Lafourche Parish School District. Bergeron was charged on Wednesday but not arrested. Instead, she was given a criminal summons, said Brennan Matherne, spokesman for the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Both Bergeron and the student admitted to engaging in consensual intercourse on two separate occasions, according to Matherne. One incident happened at Bergeron’s home and the other at the student’s.

According to Matherne, the two also exchanged “numerous messages” over social media.

“It was not something that had been going on a long time,” he said. “It is something that had recently happened and other students caught wind of and reported it to administrators.”

“In my 30 years here there have only been four or five cases [like this one],” Benoit said. “Some of those cases weren’t prosecuted by law enforcement because they didn’t break any laws.”

Regardless of whether or not any laws were broken, those teachers were still in violation the Lafourche Parish School District’s policies governing teacher-student relations.

4-year stipulation

The law prohibiting sexual contact between an educator and a student was first proposed in the state Legislature in 2007 by former state Rep. Hollis Downs.

“I’m sure that we were probably responding to a similar incident that occurred around that time,” Downs said. “I was on the education committee at the time and in a position to do something about it.”

Originally, the bill prohibited educators from engaging in sexual relations with students between the ages of 17 and 19 but was amended in 2009 to include students up to 21 years old.

“One way or another they have to leave high school when they reach the age of 21,” said Downs.

Also added to the bill in 2009 was the four year age difference stipulation, proposed by Rep. Patrick Connick.

Connick could not be reached for comment before the printing of this story.