Tulsa teacher arrested for having sex with a student

A Tulsa teacher goes to jail for having a sexual relationship with a teenage student. <br><br>The twist in this case is that the teacher is a woman, the boy she was having the affair with, was 15. News

Thursday, February 20th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa teacher goes to jail for having a sexual relationship with a teenage student.

The twist in this case is that the teacher is a woman, the boy she was having the affair with, was 15. News on Six crime reporter Lori Fullbright says because the boy is under 16 and the teacher is over 18, she's 23, this relationship of forbidden love, even though it was consensual, was illegal.

Tulsa Police officers picked up Brandi Smith at her home during the lunch hour. The boy's mother is the one who alerted police, after finding love letters and cards Smith had written to the boy.

Smith had taught at Tulsa for two years, she was teaching math at the Alternative School at 11th and Yale. She taught at Emerson Elementary last year. Smith told the detectives she was going through the break-up of her marriage and got close to the student.

Tulsa Sex Crimes Unit, Sgt Chuck Haywood, "I think this teacher's emotional status is what caused her to search for affection and when she found someone who showed her any type of attention, she poured all of her emotions into the relationship."

Police say Smith now admits it was stupid to let the relationship become sexual. She's charged with four felony counts of statutory rape, she has no previous record. I talked to the victim's mother, she's very upset that at first, no one seemed to take the situation seriously.

Here's another twist, the boy was a runaway at the time, with his mother and police looking for him. The mother even called the teacher to see if she knew where he was, but the teacher said she didn't, even though she was seeing him regularly.