After more than six years in the women’s state penitentiary, former Centertown Elementary teacher Pamela Rogers is free after serving her entire sentence for her sexual affair with a 13-year-old student.
Rogers, 35, was released from state custody recently after completing the balance of her 10-year sentence. Her service time came to less than the 10 years ordered by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley in 2006 because of good service time credits she earned while an inmate in the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. Her original sentence included eight years for sexual battery by an authority figure with an extra two years added for exploitation of a minor.
Her release is unconditional with the exception she must remain listed with the Tennessee Sexual Offender registry for life. She will be required to routinely update her status with the Fentress County Probation Department since she lives in Clarkrange with her family.
Rogers was indicted in early 2005 for having sexual relations with a 13-year-old member of the Centertown boys basketball team. She was married to the Warren County High School basketball coach at the time. They divorced shortly after her arrest.
After her arrest on the charges, it was learned she had engaged in sexual relations with the boy on several occasions with their contact including time on school property and during school-related activities such as trips together to basketball games.
She tearfully admitted to the allegations when she accepted a plea bargain in August 2005. She was given an eight-year sentence but was to serve only six months in Warren County Jail for her crimes, the remainder of her sentence to be spent on probation. As per terms of the agreement, Rogers was released from jail in early 2006 but was arrested again just two months later when prosecutors found she had violated her probation by contacting the victim through MySpace on social media. She had been forbidden by her probation to have access to the Internet or to have any contact with the victim or his family. Prosecutors also discovered risqué photos and videos had been sent to the youth by the former teacher.
Her actions led to her probation being violated in July 2006. Judge Stanley ordered her to serve the balance of her time in prison, adding two more years for her solicitation of the boy on the Internet.
Her request for early release by parole was rejected by the parole board in 2008 following a hearing at the state prison. The rejection came due to the seriousness of the crime and her disregard for the rules of her probation. Along with being rejected for parole, the board also decided not to permit her to apply for parole again, decreeing her release date to be Aug. 23, 2013 at that time.
Rogers was rejected one more time in 2010 when she tried to appeal the parole board ruling.
The state sexual offender registry does not list her as having any employment at this time. She surrendered her teaching license as part of her plea agreement in 2005. The victim in the case still lives in Warren County and is 20 years old now.