US teacher in custody for abducting her student

Both charges are felonies, and a school official said Hadden may be placed on administrative leave while the school investigates on its own, and then fired. The teacher may face a charge of contributing to a minor’s delinquency because authorities believe she may have served alcohol to Pena and another male student at an April 26 party, said Rialto Police Lt. Kathy Thompson.

The investigation into that party — first reported to police by one of the boys’ sisters three days later — may have prompted the pair to flee for Las Vegas, authorities said.

Knowledge of a close relationship between Hadden and Pena appears to have been common, many students said on Thursday. Not only were there widespread allegations about an intimate relationship but Hadden often drove Pena and his friends home after school.

Pena — whom classmates and teachers described as a bright student and, seemingly, a happy teen — who was in Hadden’s first-period science class, was in protective custody on Thursday night. His parents, Herman and Ida Pena, were being escorted to the California-Nevada border, where they would be reunited with their son. (LATWP)