Lawyer: Convicted Sex Teacher Has ‘Significant Psychological Issues’

Posted on | October 14, 2014 | 87 Comments

Lauren Harrington Cooper, 32, was Exhibit A earlier this year in my argument “that America’s public schools are staffed by sex-crazed perverts.” Every day brings new reports of teachers who cannot restrain their depraved craving for teenage flesh. Ms. Cooper was an English teacher in Pennsylvania whose modus operandi involved giving boys blow jobs in her car. Last month, she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to “9 to 23 months in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, followed by five years of probation.” This quote from a Huffington Post story about her case caught my attention:

In court, Cooper’s lawyer told the judge his client, who is still married, has severe emotional problems.
“She has been diagnosed with some significant psychological issues of inadequacy,” Joe D’Andrea said. “You would think that she’s a pretty, young girl, that she would feel good about herself. But her self-esteem issues have really troubled her all of her life, and she found comfort and solace in some people giving her attention, as wrong as it was.”

In other words, his client — the English teacher who performed oral sex on teenage boys — is not really responsible for her crimes, because of her “issues of inadequacy.” She’s “troubled.” She suffers from a self-esteem deficit, and what she was seeking from these teenage boys was “comfort and solace.” Also, the taste of their semen.

Ms. Cooper was interviewed Friday on ABC’s 20/20:

“I’m glad I got caught,” she told ABC News’ “20/20” exclusively. “I went against what I know is right, and I did wrong. And there is no way to explain that away. I have no defense of myself. I was wrong, plain and simple.”
Her forbidden affairs began after she opened a dance studio in her town with her husband, Raphael Cooper. The new side-business was time-consuming and took a toll on their marriage.
“It turned into more of a business relationship than a marriage,” she said. “With us deteriorating in our marriage and having less and less of a relationship, I didn’t feel attractive. I didn’t feel wanted.”

And so she started sucking on teenage boys. Isn’t that the obvious thing to do, if you don’t “feel attractive,” don’t “feel wanted”? Because your feelings are all that matter, see, and if your marriage is less than fully satisfying in terms of your emotional needs, it is imperative that you do something to make you feel better about yourself, i.e., give a teenage boy a blowjob. Violating every ethical code of your profession? Betraying the trust of taxpayers and parents? That’s OK, because your marriage is unhappy and you don’t “feel wanted.”

But wait, the criminal has more self-serving rationalizations:

“It wasn’t so much that I even needed a physical connection. It was just being able to interact with someone who made me feel valued and worthwhile,” Mrs. Cooper said. “As crazy as this might sound to some people, he’s very intelligent. I could have real conversations with him about real life issues.”

And, as crazy as this might sound to some people, Ms. Cooper’s rationalizations are the same as every pedophile, ever. That is to say, her explanation of her crimes is not really unusual, it’s typical. There is a bright line — very hard to overlook — between your need to “feel valued and worthwhile” and the crimes that will send you to prison. People who cross that line always have an excuse, an explanation for why they did what they did, and this story the criminal tells invariably involves an element of self-pity. The criminal wants to be seen as a victim.

The criminal uses euphemisms (“a physical connection . . . interact with someone”) that have the effect of minimizing her crimes. The plain fact of what the criminal did must be obscured and her perverse motive must be hidden behind psychobabble about the criminal’s emotional needs. Why? Because Ms. Cooper doesn’t want you to see her as what she actually is, a sexual deviant with an appetite for teenage boys.

Law enforcement officials in Pennsylvania are angry about Ms. Cooper’s 20/20 interview. They say she misrepresented her crimes:

In the eyes of Luzerne County investigators, former Wyoming Valley West teacher Lauren Harrington-Cooper lied to the world Friday night in a television interview. . . .
“The bottom line is she pled guilty to all the charges,” said Luzerne County Detective Charles Balogh, the lead detective in the teacher-student sex case that has made headlines around the globe. “She’s not accepting responsibility or guilt for what she did. She accepted the consequences, but doesn’t want to admit to the facts. It doesn’t make sense.” . . .
On the show, Harrington-Cooper said, “I did do wrong, but I’m not a monster,” a comment that drew ire from Balogh.
“I think she is a monster,” Balogh said. “She’s a true predator.” . . .
In addition to Victim No. 1, prosecutors accused Harrington-Cooper of performing oral sex on a 17-year-old boy and sending sexual messages to two other boys, aged 16 and 17. Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Jenny Roberts, the lead prosecutor in the case, maintains Harrington-Cooper was trying to deny what she did. She said the denials fly in the face of the overwhelming evidence against the former teacher.
“Obviously, she does not want the public to know the extent of what she actually did. But she did admit her guilt in court with a factual basis that covers all four victims,” Roberts said. “I guess she doesn’t want the nation to know the full extent of her crimes.” . . .
While Harrington-Cooper admitted to having sexual encounters with the 18-year-old, she was very deceptive in the interview about how the relationship developed, Balogh and Roberts said.
She told “20/20” that the 18-year-old senior, Victim No. 1, sent her complimentary text messages after getting her cellphone number. His compliments bolstered her sagging self-esteem, she said.
Local investigators say Harrington-Cooper was the one who pursued the teen.
“She blamed Victim No. 1 for chasing her, when, in fact, she was the one who reached out to Victim No. 1 by reaching out to his sister. She provided her cellphone number and said she thinks he’s hot,” Balogh recalled.
The way Roberts interpreted it, Harrington-Cooper was insinuating she was playing “hard to get” when the teen started texting her.
“That’s not what happened at all. There was no playing hard to get,” Roberts said. “She was pursuing him.”

You see the profoundly immature aspect of Ms. Cooper’s personality. She’s already been convicted and sentenced to prison. Yet her narcissistic self-esteem — how she feels about herself — is still controlling how she talks about her crimes. She minimizes and rationalizes and uses esuphemistic language because it would make her feel bad if people thought she was a “monster” who gets her sick thrills by performing oral sex on teenage boys. Perverts like her are everywhere:

VIRGINIA — A Henrico County art teacher was arrested and charged with taking indecent liberties with someone less than 18 years old after an incident at Highland Springs High School.
Police arrested Tessa Monique Hairston, 31, on Friday.
“The charge stems from an inappropriate relationship involving a juvenile male that occurred at Highland Springs High School while Ms. Hairston was employed as a teacher by Henrico County Public Schools,” Henrico Police spokesman Lt. Chris Eley said in an email.
ARKANSAS — A Siloam Springs teacher that was accused of having sex with a student pleaded not guilty on Monday (Oct. 13), officials say.
Mary F. McCormick, 32, was arraigned before Circuit Judge Brad Karren on Monday, accused of raping and exchanging explicit photographs with a 13-year-old boy.
LOUISIANA — Destrehan High School teachers Shelley Dufresne and Rachel Respess were drinking alcohol on the night they engaged in group sex with a 16-year-old student, according to records released Thursday by the Kenner Police Department. . . .
The student, now 17, had told St. Charles Parish sheriff’s deputies that he had sex with the two English teachers at Respess’ apartment in Kenner on Sept. 12. That was a Friday, the night of the Destrehan Wildcats-Helen Cox Cougars football game.
CONNECTICUT — Stamford High School Donna Valentine and assistant principal Roth Nordin have been charged with not reporting an alleged sexual relationship between a teacher and student.
Police say English teacher Danielle Watkins, 32, had sexual relationship with the 18-year-old student for about 10 months. Police also say Watkins assaulted the student when he tried to end the relationship. Watkins is also accused of selling marijuana to the 18-year-old and a second 15-year-old student.
VIRGINIA — Erica Lynne Mesa, 27, a geometry teacher and freshman volleyball coach at Colonial Forge High School, “admitted to police of having sexual relations with at least four students,” according to court documents.
Mesa is charged with three counts of custodial indecent liberties and three counts of using a computer to solicit a minor. She was arrested Sept. 29. Detective Sgt. Chris Cameron wrote in affidavits for search warrants that the incidents started in 2012 and continued up until a week before her arrest. Court records list the students’ ages as ranging from 16 to 18.
TEXAS — During the 2013-2014 school year, five teachers at Permian High School were charged with sexually molesting students. In May, Alisha Carrasco Knighten, a 25-year-old assistant softball coach and a junior high physical education teacher, resigned amid rumors of an inappropriate relationship with a female student (she was subsequently indicted). A week after Knighten resigned, another teacher Mark Lampman, 47, committed suicide after resigning amid allegations that he had sex with a student.

They all had some “self-esteem issues,” I’m sure.

Category: Crime, Education, Sex

Comments

87 Responses to “Lawyer: Convicted Sex Teacher Has ‘Significant Psychological Issues’”

texlovera
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:09 am

20/20 is nothing but a crock of shite. And this woman is nothing but a sick freak.
Political Rift » Lawyer: Convicted Sex Teacher Has ‘Significant Psychological Issues’
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:10 am

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McGehee
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:11 am

Lawyer: Convicted Sex Teacher Has ‘Significant Psychological Issues’

NO! Really???
RS
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:36 am

You beat me to my comment which was to be, “No shit, Sherlock?”
RS
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:43 am

What do we expect when “self-actualization” becomes the highest virtue? This is what the Baby Boom has wrought. (Disclosure: I’m part of that cohort, though one of its younger members.) We have elevated the pursuit of personal fulfillment above all. This is where it leads. She is not psychologically damaged. She is a product of our culture. We want, what we want, when we want it, which is to say, “Now!” It is a very infantile view of freedom and liberty: Stick whatever you want into your mouth and get your rocks off. Responsibility and maturity have no place in the equation.

Truly, the end is nigh.
Finrod Felagund
October 14th, 2014 @ 12:03 pm

I’m reminded of the Monty Python generic response to being arrested: “It’s a fair cop, but society is to blame.”
Jeanette Victoria
October 14th, 2014 @ 12:12 pm

Don’t worry in 10 yrs or less her predilection for boys will be considered an immutable orientation and she will have rights to do what she wants wit “consenting” children!
Alan Markus
October 14th, 2014 @ 12:16 pm

Something must be wrong with the narrative here – RSM needs to back off until the right politically correct narrative is developed. We are learning that the college environment is rife with male rapists – it is no longer safe to send your daughter to college – seems to be less of a chance of her getting raped if she takes a job as a stripper or as a waitress at Hooters. DO NOT LET YOUR DAUGHTERS GO TO COLLEGE – too much of a risk of rape. It’s an epidemic! Or that is what we are hearing.

Now, looking at high school (where do you think those college male rapists come from?). Perhaps these vulnerable young female teachers are victims of male patriarchy being imposed by their male students.

So, colleges must be made safe for women to pursue degrees in feminism, gender issues, lesbianism, et al. High schools must be made safe for young female teachers to teach with sensitivity to feminism, gender issues, lesbianism, etc.

Solution – nip the problem in the bud – at the middle school level subject all male students to some form of castration. Then you won’t have male high school students taking advantage of female teachers and when they get to college they won’t be raping coeds.
Slam1263
October 14th, 2014 @ 12:22 pm

It sounds like this pervert may have had oral sex with her victims.
Zohydro
October 14th, 2014 @ 1:17 pm

If these teachers are “victims” of anything, it is of that peculiar vaunted subculture that glamourises “sexual orientation”…
Art Deco
October 14th, 2014 @ 1:30 pm

That is to say, her explanation of her crimes is not really unusual, it’s typical.

It may be typical of ephebophiles. It’s typical of a certain distaff type as well. Women very seldom rob old ladies out walking their dog, or get into bar fights, or wrap themselves around a tree driving 97 miles an hour just for the hell of it. Their offenses are less obtrusive and more common and garden and commonly buttressed by a decidedly underdeveloped sense of personal agency which includes vigorous efforts at rationalization. If you’ve not had one of these in your household, Mr. McCain, give thanks.
trangbang68
October 14th, 2014 @ 1:44 pm

Homegirl just wanted someone to make her feel valued and worthwhile.R-i-g-h-t

Who doesn’t place high value on an adult giving out hummers to teenagers in the back seat of a car?
Regular Mother Teresa, that one.
Quartermaster
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:13 pm

I’m one of its older members (actual date is classified beyond compartmented) and I was never taught such nonsense. But, I spent a good bit of time in military dependent schools in Europe. Such stuff was laughed at as nothing more than patent idiocy.
Quartermaster
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:14 pm

I would really hate living with female patriarchy.
ExiledOnMainStreet
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:20 pm

As a woman who hasn’t found teenage boys sexually appealing since the days I was a teenager myself, I am not only mystified by any adult female who feels the need to have sex with them, I also raise the BS flag on the idea that “self esteem” was an issue here. Most teenage boys would be happy to get a BJ from just about any female out there – they are not known for being choosy. It’s not like seducing a boy with raging hormones is any sort of difficult feat.
K-Bob
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:22 pm

They’d run out of post-it notes.
Danny
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:30 pm

And again we see how bias the courts are against male offenders.

Do I even have to mention that if a male teacher had seduced multiple pupils, and then proceeded to have sex with them on multiple occasions that he would not be receiving between 9 to 23 months? he would have been labeled a monster, and serial predator, and we would have been treated to the usual feminist hysteria about how inherently violent men are plus the 10 to 20 years he would be serving. Instead we hear how she was “stressed out” and had mental problems.

Last evening there was a documentary on about a woman named Diane Schuler who killed 8 people in a head on collision, including her three children, and was drunk, and high when she did it. The narrative thrust though was not what Diane Schuler did, but instead about how hard it is to be a working woman with kids, and that’s why she was an alcoholic, and murdered 8 people. The feminist narrative, much like all SJ narratives are never about individuals but about how macro forces create victims who commit crimes of which they are now unaccountable.
K-Bob
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:34 pm

You can probably find a named psychological disorder for everything that’s illegal. Most people who break the law ain’t thinkin’ rite.

A lawyer who defends an actual criminal has to damage the law and the also the value of enforcement to get his client off the hook.
Danny
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:34 pm

What’s even worse is that me even making these comments which are nothing more than appeal toward equality, especially in our justice system, would be interpreted, or more accurately labeled, by progressive dimwits, and prominent feminist crusaders as misogyny, when in fact it is their own sexism thats really driving these things.
DeadMessenger
October 14th, 2014 @ 2:53 pm

“9 to 23 months in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, followed by five years of probation”

If Missy had downloaded a single nude picture of one of these kids from the internet, without laying a hand (or in this case, tongue) upon him, she’d have gotten minimum 10 years in a federal prison, 10+ years probation, and lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Viewing nude picture = very, very bad
Following through = not nearly as bad

Is it just me, or is there something messed up here?
Durasim
October 14th, 2014 @ 3:17 pm

The wise words of Theodore Dalrymple on the therapeutic crusade to diagnose and excuse all bad behavior as “illness.”

http://www.city-journal.org/2013/23_4_otbie-psychiatry.html
K-Bob
October 14th, 2014 @ 3:39 pm

City Journal is always a good read. Thanks!
K-Bob
October 14th, 2014 @ 3:56 pm

Good point.

A well-known Science Fiction author wrote an article about fifteen years or so ago, before the rise of internet video (internet pr0n was all stills and gifs back then). His claim at the time was that kiddie pr0n was a hoax.

He thought the government was the biggest purveyor of it, and it did so in order to sting buyers.

His claim was that in his travels, he would frequently stop in adult book stores and make a point of asking if they had anything not on the shelves “hint hint” and with “something a little younger.” He said every time the owners would get really angry at him for asking, told him he was sick, and in some cases physically threw him from the premises.

(To him, this was research, y’unnastan.)

At any rate he got paid to write the article.

But now we have actual kiddie pr0n rings and perople being arrested with hard-drives supposedly packed with this stuff.

I think we’re actually seeing a rise in child sexual slavery worldwide (freaking islamists to blame for much of that), and an increase in these cases of abuse that Stacy keeps highlighting. Basically, the internet has been a huge boon to the creeps, pedophiles, and perverts of the world.

I’m not the crusader against the adult versions of this stuff that Stacy is (I’m more like your typical Ace of Spades commenter in that regard), but that bright line Stacy mentioned is something that ought to be maintained with sharp hooks and hot tar. These child abusers (especially ones inside government institutions) are the one group to whom the word “draconian” should never apply.
RKae
October 14th, 2014 @ 4:32 pm

It didn’t occur to him that his “hint, hint” stuff in a magazine shop might make him look like a really stupid cop?

Kiddie porn collectors had rarely been caught throughout the decades before the internet, but when they were caught they had massive collections. This points to two things: 1.) they have ALWAYS been able to network (to trade back and forth); 2.) they have always been able to protect their networks with SERIOUS safeguards.
concern00
October 14th, 2014 @ 4:49 pm

I believe we all have issues – psychological, self-esteem or otherwise – it’s part of being human. Another part of being human is exerting your God given ability to exercise self control over your emotions and erratic thoughts.

For some, hitherto unexplained reason, we as a society have decided to travel in a direction where exerting self control over wayward thoughts and desires is considered injurious and thus we now encourage free expression and behavioral manifestation of all thoughts and feelings no matter how illegal, damaging or anti-social. Our irrational thoughts and desires are, after-all, who we (they) truly are.
DeadMessenger
October 14th, 2014 @ 4:53 pm

Well, looks like Fiction becomes Science, in a way.

But I do recall reading in the past about kiddie porn sting operations conducted by federal law enforcement, in which such porn is staged up online by the agency in question and offered up to pervs. And I’ve read about other LE attempting to bust the first LE, not knowing about their sting op.

I hate to use this phrase in light of this article, but this approach really leaves a bad taste in my mouth regarding LE methodology and possible entrapment. I say, go find the actual sources of this filth and shut them down!

I remember…oh…probably 15 years ago or so, when my kids were little, they were into Pokemon. So one day, I went out online to find a still picture of Pikachu to draw for my daughter. I googled “Pikachu” and started clicking on links looking for an apt picture to copy, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a bunch of kiddie porn! I looked at the tags for the webpage, and the keywords were all childish cartoon characters and words! And, who knows how many kids stumbled upon this site the same way I did. Called LE…they didn’t care. Got a big yawn.

So go figure.
DeadMessenger
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:02 pm

Too bad Chase Bank et.al. can’t seem to figure out how to employ some of those same serious safeguards. -_-
RKae
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:04 pm

I went to see the musical “The Book Of Mormon.” There’s a song in there about how, if you’re gay, you can just “turn it off like a light switch.” And the characters all sing facetiously about simply shutting off your bad impulses. It turns into a big gay romp in pink sparkly vests.

The audience was in stitches, but all I could think was “I’m in the midst of several thousand people who are laughing at the idea of self-control.” It also occurred to me that they would NEVER do a song like that about Buddhism, and Buddhism is far more focused on abstinence and restraint. …But, it’s somehow “cool,” so…
RKae
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:08 pm

I think it’s called “matriarchy.”
RKae
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:11 pm

She “wanted to feel valued.”

Nothing is more of a waste of time than asking criminals why they did what they did. Their only responses are deflections.

Pedophiles want one thing: a lopsided sexual dynamic. They want to be boss. They fear a sexual equal.
Daniel Freeman
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:23 pm

There is a bright line — very hard to overlook — between your need to “feel valued and worthwhile” and the crimes that will send you to prison. People who cross that line always have an excuse, an explanation for why they did what they did, and this story the criminal tells invariably involves an element of self-pity. The criminal wants to be seen as a victim.

Hell, that’s true of every cheater ever, whether breaking their marriage vows, holding an ace up their sleeve, or lying on the witness stand. It’s also true of every domestic abuser ever; whether physical or emotional, whether abusing a partner or child, they always find some way to convince themselves that they’re smart and good and nice.
Buffalobob
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:26 pm

Robert, what I like about your style of writing is there is no ambiguity. Picture the boy’s bathroom stalls in that high school, “for an quick and easy BJ go to Mrs Lauran’s English class”.
Daniel Freeman
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:27 pm

Whether criminal or cheater, it always comes down to one thing:

“I deserved it.”
RS
October 14th, 2014 @ 5:49 pm

I wasn’t taught it either. But then my father and mother married later in life, so I had a much more solid upbringing.
Zohydro
October 14th, 2014 @ 6:29 pm

I’ve read that adult gay males have ways of seducing adolescent boys as well…
Zohydro
October 14th, 2014 @ 6:36 pm

I blame Mssrs Daguerre and Kodak for the modern kiddie pron epidemic…
Zohydro
October 14th, 2014 @ 7:52 pm

That term is taken and I absolutely couldn’t imagine any of those types being a “matriarch”… “Psychoarchy”, perhaps!
theoldsargesays
October 14th, 2014 @ 9:23 pm

” She is not psychologically damaged. She is a product of our culture.”

Which is, as we all know, a construct of the ……..?
John_LC_Silvoney
October 14th, 2014 @ 9:54 pm

“Convicted Sex Teacher”- Another great name for a rock band.
RS
October 14th, 2014 @ 10:05 pm

I saw Convicted Sex Teacher open for The Little River Band in 1978 in Athens, Georgia.
Despiser_of_Libs
October 14th, 2014 @ 10:36 pm

I do not support the lofty and ambitious goal of having teachers teach children “how to think” because I do not believe that low-ranking civil servants, as a group, are particularly good at it themselves.
PapayaSF
October 14th, 2014 @ 10:45 pm

I agree on her morals and her judgment, but I think it’s a bit much to call her a “sexual deviant” for having sex with 16-17 year old boys. Age 16 is not illegally young in some jurisdictions, and there’s a lot of biological reality and custom to support it. It’s not exactly contrary to mainstream human nature, as I’m sure any survey of women would confirm. If these were 8 year olds, I’d be OK with the term, but at those ages it seems unfair.
Davy Jones
October 14th, 2014 @ 10:55 pm

What’s the cutoff age before you stop being a ‘gurl’? Apparently, it’s after age 32.
Daniel Freeman
October 14th, 2014 @ 10:57 pm

Good point, but I think that with the right text, they could show how to identify cognitive biases. Teaching children how not to mis-think.
Daniel Freeman
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:01 pm

As long as men in the exact same situation are placed on sex offender registries and vigilanted unto poverty, homelessness, and death, screw her. She’s a pedophile and a pervert.
Nan
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:05 pm

Cafeteria Buddhism though, they don’t tend to actually practice Buddhism but like to meditate and throw a few ideas around.
K-Bob
October 14th, 2014 @ 11:47 pm

Yep. Had the same thing happen a few years back when I did an image search looking for stills from The History Of The World – Part I. I wanted a still of the Mel Brooks character “Piss Boy” for some joke response to something or other.

Never do that search with the filter off.

I was freaked out, big time.
Tyrconnell
October 15th, 2014 @ 12:33 am

“With us deteriorating in our marriage and having less and less of a relationship, I didn’t feel attractive. I didn’t feel wanted.”

Sounds like a typical excuse for adultery actually, every one who has cheated has said the same basic thing.
RKae
October 15th, 2014 @ 1:35 am

I’m actually damned tired of that line “we need to teach kids how to think, not what to think.”

No. We need to teach them how to use an apostrophe. We need to teach them how to tell the difference between “there” and “their.” We need to teach them their multiplication tables.

School needs to be THAT basic.

How to think and what to think is all up to the individual by interacting in life.
RKae
October 15th, 2014 @ 1:36 am

Yeah, I call it California Buddhism.