Corona teacher had sex with student in classroom, police say

A Corona high school teacher charged with having sex with five teenage boys sent naked pictures of herself to one student and committed a sex act in a classroom with another student moments after school concluded, authorities say.

Summer Michelle Hansen, 31, a special-education teacher at Centennial High School, was charged last week with 16 felony counts involving sex acts with five boys younger than 18 within one year. None were students she taught regularly.

Riverside County prosecutors allege that from May 2012 to May 2013, Hansen committed sexual acts with the teenagers, who were as young as 16, in her classroom, in a campus utility room, in her vehicle parked near a youth’s home and at the home of one of the teenagers.

She is the fourth female teacher in Southern California this year to be accused of having sex with her male teenage students.

Hansen’s attorney, David Cohn, insists she is innocent and the victim of a conspiracy by her accusers.

“It is easy to make an allegation, and it is easier when you have other people on board,” Cohn said.

He said that Hansen’s phone was hacked and that he reported it to police when she began getting reports from friends, neighbors and family of strange emails in January and February, long before the sex allegations arose.

“She actually went to the phone company twice, changed her phone twice,” he said. “She went to the school … people were receiving texts, emails and photographs from her that she states she did not send.”

She did not enter a plea during a brief court appearance last week.

Corona police did a thorough investigation, and there was no evidence Hansen’s phone was hacked, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office.

Hansen was arrested in June after Corona police conducted an initial investigation. The probe was prompted by the Corona-Norco Unified School District, which reported a possible inappropriate relationship between Hansen and a former student. The district placed Hansen on leave.

An 18-year-old alleges that Hansen had sex with him when he was 17 and attending the school and that she had sent him racy photos of herself.

That teenager alleges that Hansen had sex with two other teens. Hansen is also accused of having sex with a student in a classroom after school ended.

The teacher is charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, unlawful oral copulation with a minor and sending harmful material to a minor.

Prosecutors could seek up to 13 years in prison if Hansen is convicted on all the charges.

Detectives continued to gather evidence in the case and identified four other alleged victims after Hansen posted bail.

After her arrest in June, parents and friends rallied around Hansen, who has taught at Centennial for nearly five years. They questioned the motives of the accusers.

richard.winton@latimes.com