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CNN Live At Daybreak

California Teacher Found in Hotel Room With Teenage Student

Aired May 03, 2002 - 06:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Back in the United States, a California science teacher is in custody in Las Vegas after being found in a hotel room with her teenage student. Her disappearance Monday triggered a massive search, and now the teacher faces an array of charges.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She is a 33- year-old science teacher.

IDA PENA, STUDENT'S MOTHER: Just come home. That's all we want.

GUTIERREZ: He is a 15-year-old high school student.

HERMAN PENA, STUDENT'S FATHER: So please, son, we need you.

GUTIERREZ: It is a strange case that baffled California's police, and tormented an entire family for days.

I. PENA: I don't wish this on any parent. I hope no one ever has to go through this.

GUTIERREZ: Fifteen-year-old Richard Pena sat in Tanya Hadden's first period science class as Cajon High School in San Bernardino, California. Monday morning, Ida Pena took her son to school. He never came home. Investigators turned to his married teacher, Tanya Hadden.

LT. FRANK MANKIN, SAN BERNARDINO POLICE: We are not certain of the relationship. One can only speculate.

GUTIERREZ: According to police, the pair had some sort of relationship for the past five weeks. The boy's mother said Haddon had occasionally given her son a ride home from school.

I. PENA: When she brought him home, she had several boys in the car as well. And my son told me that she was very nice.

GUTIERREZ: But allegations soon surfaced that Hadden had given alcohol to several male students. On Monday, investigators went to the high school to question Hadden and Pena. MANKIN: We believe that that incident is probably what sparked their desire to run away.

GUTIERREZ: The manhunt was on for four days. Then Thursday morning, detectives tracked the teacher and the student to the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

MANKIN: They were able to bring both of them into custody. They are both safe. They are both sound.

GUTIERREZ: Las Vegas police will file felony charges against Tanya Hadden, four counts of statutory rape and one count of kidnapping. She also faces felony charges in California of non- parental abduction and transporting a minor across state lines.

H. PENA: We thank God that they found our son, and he is safe.

I. PENA: It has been every parent's nightmare. This has been my worst fear.

GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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