Hello everybody! Welcome to “Liar or Idiot?” the popular ethics game show! Welcome panel! And here’s today’s challenge…
This is Ramsey BethAnn Bearse! Remember when she was Miss Kentucky in 2014?
Poor Ramsey—she’s 29 now— was sentenced to jail for two years after sending sending photos “of a sexual nature” to a middle school teen when she was working as a West Virginia school teacher. She told the court that it was all a big mistake.
“The young man’s name was listed next to my husband’s on my phone,” Bearse explained. “From there, he asked me for more and I panicked. I was afraid to not appease him. When he asked for more, I sent him more photos of me which led to him sending a photo of his privates.”
It could happen to anybody! But wait…why was a middle school student’s phone number on her speed dial? Something to think about, panel!
Ramsey appeased him for three months in 2018. The teen’s parents discovered that he was being appeased when they found the images of the ex-beauty queen on the kid’s phone. She was arrested shortly thereafter.
Bearse pleaded guilty to one count of possessing material depicting minors in a sexually explicit conduct in exchange for having four counts of sending obscene material to a minor dropped. “I didn’t keep any of the photos of him or forward them to anyone else,” Bearse now says. “But, I did receive them and I did compliment him in a way which made it look like I did want them, because again I was afraid to not appease him. Since I am the adult and he is just a teenager, it was definitely my fault and I accept the blame for the situation.”
A judge sentenced Ramsey to two years in prison and10 years of supervised release. She must also register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
What do you say? Liar? Or Idiot?
Ethics Alarms 
Damn, I wish I had a hot teacher sending me nudies when I was a teen. I wouldn’t have sent her a dick pic but still I would have felt that I hit the jackpot.
You clearly did not have the same teachers I had. A nude picture would have been the last thing I would have wanted to see of any of them. Gives me chills just thinking about it.
You owe me a keyboard.
I had zero hot female teachers in high school and it would have been a ghastly sight if one of the teachers sent me a nudie. I was more preoccupied with some of my classmates who were hot. If one of them had given me a nudie, it would have been a dream come true.
I’m not sure there’s enough information to tell. The tone of any messages she sent would provide clues as to whether it was deliberate or not.
If she supervised any class field trips, it’s possible she had students’ phone numbers so that she’d know who was calling her.
Smartphone and media companies make it obscenely quick and easy to share random thoughts and photographs, so I’ll believe there’s no opportunity to review details before transmitting a photograph to a contact with a finger-tap. I don’t view that as an excuse; it just means that now there’s a new range of potentially serious consequences for the carelessness of the average human.
My biggest question, though, is that if the first photo was an accident as she claims, then what should she have done instead, and what would have been the consequences for her? I’m assuming the Naked Teacher Principle applies, but beyond that I don’t know.
What are the legal consequences of turning oneself in for having committed an accidental crime? Do humans ever do that? Is one supposed to get a lawyer first, to help draft a confession to send to the police? If one turns oneself in, is that credit towards a plea bargain? Is it possible the lawyer would advise someone to simply not confess to having committed an accidental crime, given the Fifth Amendment and that the consequences for confessing would likely be worse than simply not being caught? I’m surprised I’ve never considered these questions before, but I’m sure many other people have thought about these.
(Cursory research reveals it’s advisable to get a lawyer, but nothing on if or when it’s advisable to volunteer a confession in the absence of being caught.)
Her best option may have been to apologize to the student and ask them to delete the photo, and then proceed with the lawyer if the student decided to be a sociopath about it. The famous first rule of holes is when you find yourself in one, stop digging.
The best time to confess is after the statute of limitations had passed, like the rapist who’s handywork did in the Central Park Five.
However… If your crime had resulted in the high profile incarcerations of five innocent boys, I’d hope you do something before that.
I’d expect anyone who committed an accidental crime to step up and clear the names of innocent accused parties, as an ethical obligation.
For those who commit deliberate crimes, I’m assuming that such a person would not be abiding by ethical principles in the first place. I surmise that whether they decide to confess to stop the prosecution of someone else would depend on what crime they were willing to commit in the first place and why. It may also matter to them what sort of person is being prosecuted.
In my view she was stupid and is lying. Because no one is THAT stupid.
Why not just say “my sincerest apologies that was meant for my husband.” Then. All his parents and tell them. Imagine if it was a male teacher and an young girl????? Omg!
It’s a tricky situation.
Or she could lie and have her husband say he was sending himself a photo from his wife’s phone and noticed he sent it to the wrong person and apologize and play dumb.
Then if it was truly innocent on her part, she’s Safe, he made a mistake, and the kid prolly felt like he got lucky.
Would that be unethical to have her husband write him after and say “not sure who this is but please delete my wife’s pic. Meant to send to my phone. Thanks.”
Not sure. Seems like ages stupid and lying. Sending more seems like the dumbest thing to do!
She was also subject to the Naked Teacher Principle. Using your cell phone to send out nude photos is per se irreponsible; indeed having nude photos on your phone is stupid by definition. There’s a post about this happening to a teacher before, but she didn’t decide to “appease” the student involved, or compliment his “dick pics.”
I think she’s stupid, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. The problem the world is experiencing today is because of an overwhelming willingness to assume a bad intention on the part of people we disagree with. The story sounds plausible enough to be true but the “appeasement” was wrong and the punishment was condign.
I remember a rule that I learnt from this blog: Never assume a bad intention of it is sufficiently explained by stupidity. I think this situation is sufficiently explained by stupidity.
I think she’s stupid. No beauty queen/intelligence jokes here.
I believe an accidental text. It happens all the time. I don’t know why she had his phone number, but she could have had a legitimate reason for it. She felt trapped by the accidental text and probably thought he would blackmail her if she didn’t send him more photos. Or maybe he did blackmail her.
It was a poor choice, obviously. But people who feel trapped are afraid and fear causes people to make decisions they wouldn’t ordinarily make when they’re not emotionally compromised.
She’s lying. Even if the first one was a mistake, which I don’t believe, why she didn’t immediately pull in her principal and the superintendent and make them aware is beyond me. Why the boy and his parents weren’t also brought to the school where the incident could be discussed, and how any attempt at revenge porn would be fully prosecuted, is also beyond me. But then, I don’t think the first one was a mistake at all.
Liar, idiot, child abuser and blight on the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Also, how can she imagine anyone would believe that cockamamie story? “I tripped and pictures of my hooha fell onto a minor’s phone, your honor! I don’t know how his number happened to be there!”
God, I hate the “sex offender registry,” but the truth is, it’s easy to avoid.
A question for the women out there: Let’s say I’m a former beauty pageant contestant and winner or even a very good looking young, female teacher. Why do I have to look to teenaged boys if I want to have sex? Couldn’t I have sex with almost any guy I happened to set my eyes on? What good looking woman is incapable of having absolutely as much sex with other consenting adults as she desires? Anyone? Beuhler? I just don’t get it.
I would imagine it’s the same with anyone who pursues a relationship with a subordinate: it’s all about power.
But why with a minor? I’m sure there are plenty subordinate guys she could find without breaking the law, non? Besides which, don’t women have all the power when it comes to things carnal? How many guys ever say “no?”
I don’t know, OB.
Crap, my phone replied before I was ready. I honestly don’t understand these issues any more than you. Personally, I wouldn’t date a guy under the age of 50. But I’m thinking that these kinds of situations are not really about sex at all.I would have to imagine that at the basis of it all is need for power.
Don’t discount the possibility that many of the perpetrators were also abused when they were young, which is a cycle that tends to perpetuate itself. There are a lot of very broken people out there who seem okay to the casual observer, but are deeply messed up inside.
Given the quality of education coming out of our schools, I have no problem believing that a public school teacher could simply be this stupid. It sounds about right, actually.