Madison Harned (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A former teacher accused of having sex with a then 17-year-old student pled guilty to lesser charges during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Twenty-eight-year-old Madison Harned was arrested and booked in August 2023.
At the time of the arrest, she was working as a teacher in the Mountain Home Public Schools Career Academies.
Harned pled guilty to second-degree sexual assault and was put on probation for 10 years. She will never be allowed to teach school again and will be required to register as a sex offender.
Facts developed during the investigation of the allegations showed the situation had gone in a much different direction than had been indicated initially.
The information developed apparently made the testimony of one major witness expected to testify for the state less credible than originally thought.
Circuit Judge John Putman commented that the plea agreement “is inconsistent with what we normally do in these type cases.”
Prosecutor David Ethredge told the court that the victim had consented to the plea and that officials with the Mountain Home Public Schools were also in agreement.
Ethredge told Judge Putman that events surrounding the primary victim after Harned’s arrest “would make it difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute this case.”
In sentencing Harned, Judge Putman said, “it’s plain that your teaching days are over. I know how hard it is to get the degrees and training necessary to be in a classroom, and you have thrown all of that away.”
As is customary, the bulk of the information in the case has been sealed by the court to protect the identity of the minor.
According to the information that is public, Harned allegedly had sex with the teen on three different occasions during the months of July and August 2023.
MHPS administration assisted law officers in the investigation.
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