A former Habersham County teacher has been sentenced to serve 30 years for having sex with a minor student.
Leslie Thacker Terrell of Baldwin was a teacher at Habersham Ninth Grade Academy at the time of the 2021 incidents. In October Terrell entered a negotiated guilty plea in Habersham County Superior Court.
Mountain Judicial Circuit Judge B. Chan Caudell sentenced Terrell to serve 20 years for the first count of child molestation and 10 years consecutive for the second count of child molestation.
Court documents state the first 16 years must be served in confinement and the remainder may be served on probation.
Terrell resigned March 8, 2021, and she was arrested the first time roughly 10 days later. After her release from jail, she was rearrested in May 2021 on similar charges involving the same 15-year-old student.
As part of the sentence, Terrell, 35, cannot have contact of any kind, in person, by telephone, mail or otherwise, with her juvenile victim or with his/her family members.
Special conditions of Terrell’s probation include that she is not to have any contact with anyone under 18 years of age, whether in person or through any means of communication, which includes attending any gatherings or social events, childcare facilities, schools or areas where minors congregate. That restriction does not apply to Terrell’s biological children.
Another condition is that except as authorized by the court or Community Supervision Officer, Terrell may not create, possess, access or control any type of photograph, video, rendering or digital imagery of any minor.
The restrictions restrict Terrell from dating or marrying anyone who has children under the age of 18 unless approved in advance and in writing by the Community Supervision Officer in consultation with the treatment provider or the sentencing court. Terrell is required to notify any such person of her criminal history.
Other special conditions include prohibitions on possessing or subscribing to sexually oriented material, on use of 900 numbers, and on renting post office boxes.
Terrell must attend and actively participate in sex offender evaluation and treatment at a program approved by the Community Supervision Officer and abide by any curfews imposed.
Additionally, a Fourth Amendment Waiver applies to Terrell, meaning she must submit to a search of her person, property, home or vehicle at any time by law enforcement and Community Supervision officers, with or without consent or a search warrant.
The conditions restrict Terrell from purchasing, possessing, or consuming alcoholic beverages or taking into her body any controlled substance or mind-altering drug except under a doctor’s prescription.
Terrell is prohibited from hitchhiking or picking up hitchhikers and must keep a driving log and make it available to the Community Supervision Officer as requested.
She remains jailed in the Habersham County Detention Center.
