US teacher who eloped with 13-year-old faces justice
An American woman teacher who ran away to Mexico with a 13-year-old boy is due in court today on abuse and kidnap charges.
Kelsey Peterson, 25, and Fernando Rodriguez were found on Friday in Mexicali, Mexico, after the boy’s relatives told police he had called home asking for money.
Peterson, a maths teacher and basketball coach at Lexington Middle School in Nebraska, was turned over to FBI agents on Saturday.
She was being held on federal charges at a jail in California and was scheduled to appear before a US judge.
Mexican police said Fernando had vague plans with Peterson for a life of hiding in southern or central Mexico.
Peterson is charged in Nebraska with kidnapping, child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She also faces federal charges of transporting a minor across state lines or a foreign border for sexual activity.
Fernando was handed to relatives in Mexico. He was an illegal immigrant while residing in the United States, and might not be able to return to the rural Nebraska town where he was a student.
