Valynne Bowers Goes To Trial

40-year-old Valynne Asay Bowers, accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy, who was a student at the same high school where she taught math - Bountiful Junior High - will go to trial. She faces 8 felony charges: five counts of rape and three counts of forcible sodomy. The charges carry a possible life sentence if she is found guilty.

Bowers is the second teacher to face charges of having sex with the same boy. Linda Richins Nef has already pleaded guilty to having sex with the boy when he was 13 years old. She has been sentenced to 3 years to life in prison.

For complete background details on this story check the following:

1. Boy Has Sex with 2 Teachers


2. Teachers worry about child victim


3. Linda Nef Takes Plea Deal

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Bowers was ordered to stand trial by Second District Judge Jon M. Memmott after a preliminary hearing determined that there was enough evidence to warrant one.

During the preliminary hearing, a police officer read aloud a confession and letter of apology that Bowers wrote with detectives. Investigators had apparently encouraged her to write the letter, telling her that it might help her case.

"He came to me as a responsible adult," Bowers allegedly wrote in the letter. "I violated so much trust."

"He was dealing with more than an adult can handle," she wrote. "I just tried to be a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on."

Bowers said she "tried to be a strong shoulder he could lean on."

Bowers lamented, however, "I began to lean on him. I didn't realize how lonely and depressed I was . . . "

She added: "I had no right to treat him as an adult. I'm sorry for all the damage I caused."

The boy also gave testimony at the hearing. He said he was the one who initiated sexual contact with his teacher. He went to her classroom after school, even though Bowers no longer was his teacher, and rummaged through her desk. He also sent her text messages and taught her guitar lessons at her home.

Yes, he said, he looked at pornography. Yes, members of his music band — some 17 or 18 years old — talked with him about sex. Yes, his family, in particular his stepfather, talked openly about intercourse because "he just likes to joke about it," the boy said. And yes, before he and Bowers had sex for the first time, he told her that he thought she was a "pushover."

Prosecutors, however, argued that as a teacher, Bowers was in a position of special trust and should never have engaged in sexual behavior with the child. That position of trust is why she was charged with first-degree felonies as opposed to lesser charges.

"A teacher doesn't stop being a teacher when the bell rings," prosecutor Richard Larsen said. "She was a teacher in his school. By nature of that position, they have authority over you."

Bowers' defense attorney, Rich Gallegos, noting that no sexual conduct occurred at school, and that Bowers was not the boy's teacher at the time of the alleged crimes, argued there was no teacher/student (special trust) relationship.

Rich Gallegos said there is ambiguity in the law on the issue of "position of trust."

"The law's not clear. There's no appellate guidance. So, this will be an issue of first impression. But, as the court indicated, it's a factual issue that will ultimately be determined by a jury," he said.

"The question is whether she used her position as a teacher to exploit this kid and I don't think the facts support that," Gallegos said. "He was not her direct student. He went to her classroom to obtain personal information so he could pursue her after hours."

According to testimony from police and the boy, the boy initiated contact with Bowers in December 2008 by showing up at her after-school math study sessions. He got her cell phone number by using her phone to send himself a message, then began texting and talking to her about his troubled past - including being sexually molested as a younger child - and other personal problems.

Later, the communications became joking and teasing, then sexual.

They first had phone sex, according to testimony. Then, on Jan. 2, they had sexual intercourse. The boy said they had sex twice that first time; Bowers said it was three times.

A week or two later the boy began giving Bowers 30-minute guitar lessons at her home, where they had sex every Friday night until Feb. 27. Bowers told police she tried to end the relationship, but the boy threatened to harm himself.

The relationship finally ended in early March when Linda Nef, 46, another Bountiful Junior High teacher who had a sexual relationship with the same boy when he was 13 years old, went to police and told them about herself and Bowers. She received a 3-year-to-life sentence.

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Linda Nef Takes Plea Deal

Linda Nef, the 46-year-old school teacher, who admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old boy, a student in her class, may avoid doing any jail time. Nef and another teacher, Valynne Bowers, 40, were both accused of having sex with the same boy at Bountiful Junior High School.

Nef was originally charged with two first-degree felonies: 1) Rape of a child and 2) Sodomy on a child, which carry mandatory prison terms of 25 years to life.

On Tuesday (6/16/09) Linda Nef went before 2nd District Judge Rodney Page and pleaded guilty to first-degree felony attempted aggravated abuse of a child. The plea gives the judge the option of imposing either probation or a prison term of three years to life. The judge ordered a pre-sentencing report for Nef before she is sentenced July 21.

The plea deal was worked out between the defense and the prosecution along with the victim and his family. Davis County Attorney Richard Larsen said the victim and his family wanted the possibility of probation left open for Nef.

"The victim and his family are very much in favor of resolving [the case] this way," Larsen told the judge.

Sean Druyon, Linda Nef's lawyer, said Nef had already undergone a psycho-sexual evaluation that found she was not a pedophile and not a danger to re-offend.

The second teacher involved in the sex scandal, Valynne Bowers, may also make a plea deal with Davis County prosecutors. Defense attorney Rich Gallegos asked for more time for them to work on a plea bargain. This occurred before Linda Nef cut a deal with prosecutors.

"I'm hopeful that we can work out a deal where she can get some type of probation sentence," Gallegos said. "Likely associated with that is jail time."

Valynne Bowers is charged with first-degree felony rape and forcible sodomy. Her case is considered less serious than that of Linda Nef because her relationship with the victim began when he was 14 years old. Nef began her relationship when the victim was only 13 years old. Bowers is due back in court on June 29 for a potential resolution in the case.

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Rapist Teachers Worried about Child Victim

Two teachers - Linda Richins Nef, 46, and Valynne Asay Bowers, 39 - at Bountiful Jr High School in Utah face first-degree felony charges of rape and sodomy on a child. They are both accused of having sex with a student of the same school, beginning when he was 13 years old. Both teachers have hired lawyers and both are expected to undergo psychological evaluations.

It was Linda Nef who came forward - after learning of Bowers involvement with the youth - to report her behavior to the police. According to her lawyer, Sean Druyon, Nef is sorry for what she's done. Druyon is also recommending that the boy, who has emotional problems, receive counseling.

"She wants to come clean. That's paramount," he said. "But she's also concerned about the boy and his safety. We expect that he's going to need therapy. He's going to need counseling for this and other issues in his life. She wants to take responsibility and pay whatever the court finds appropriate. She's embarrassed her family, her children; she's embarrassed her school, and she feels terrible."

Nef began her relationship with the boy in Nov. 2007 and it continued through July 2008 (earlier reports said Dec. 2008). Her lawyer said Nef had wanted to come forward much sooner but was reluctant to do so because the boy had threatened to harm himself. "When she came in to see me, she wasn't sure if she could protect the child and confess," Sean Druyon said.

According Nef, the relationship with the boy started after he had left her class. "Nothing inappropriate happened" while he was her student. After leaving her class the boy continued to seek her out and she began helping him with some "emotional issues" he was going through. There were after-hours phone calls, visits between classes, meetings after hours and text messages. It grew erotic and led to sex.

"Her role went from former schoolteacher trying to help him, and one thing led to another"

Nef says she wanted to end the relationship sooner but was concerned about the boy's emotional state. It wasn't until after the relationship was finally over that Nef learned about the other teacher, Valynne Bowers. That was when she decided to contact her lawyer and go to the police.

Valynne Bowers' attorney, Rich Gallegos, said he will ask for a psycho-sexual evaluation for his client but said she was not a predator.

"I think there's some psychological issues," he said. "The kid is clearly a victim, but I think these ladies were somewhat vulnerable. When I talked to her, she had a lot of remorse and felt for the victim in the case," he said. "Realizing that she's the adult and she's taking responsibility for her actions, but all of her concerns are for the kid."

The boy is still with his parents but state child welfare workers are also involved with the case.

"We want to get all the information," said Sean Druyon. "When you look at this at first blush, here's a 40-something-year-old woman, here's a 13-year-old, almost 14-year-old boy, 'What was she thinking? She must be a pedophile.' That's not always the case."

In an e-mail sent to parents, the school said it was "a very difficult situation that we are working as a faculty, staff and student body to get through." Counselors were made available to students to help them get through the shock of the scandal.

"We are in the healing process and hope to learn and improve from those mistakes that were made," the e-mail said, expressing thanks for phone calls of support and sending out a plea for questions and concerns to administrators.

Nevertheless, the Davis School District has no plans to change its policies and ban text messaging between teachers and students. But Carol Lear at the State Office of Education has said maybe these policies should be looked at again.

"There is something more intimate about texting than there is about phone calls and certainly than e-mail," she said. "It likely is not appropriate for teachers and students to text each other, especially on a regular basis," she added.

Authorities say other cases of teacher misconduct may have started with personal phone calls, texts and e-mails.

"These younger people that I'm talking to who are student teaching or about to student teach, are saying 'I would never want a student to text me. First of all, I wouldn't want them to know my phone number. I also just think that's something you reserve; it's very casual. You reserve it for a close friend,'" Lear said.

There isn't a rule that specifically bans a teacher from texting a student, but the Utah State Office of Education has rules on teacher/student interactions.

The rules include:

• Teachers shall not make inappropriate contact in any communication-written, verbal, or electronic-with minor, student, or colleague, regardless of age or location.


• Teachers shall not solicit, encourage or consummate an inappropriate relationship, written, verbal, or physical, with a student or minor.


• Teachers shall not participate in sexual, physical, or emotional harassment or any combination toward any public school-age student or colleague, nor knowingly allow harassment toward students or colleagues.


• Teachers shall not accept or give gifts to students that would suggest or further an inappropriate relationship.