Fresno County teacher denies sex with minor allegations

FRESNO, Calif.

/*Nadia Diaz*/ was recently married and now facing serious charges of a crime with a 14-year-old male student.

Action News has learned the student involved is now a senior at the school. Students say he was not in class Friday. The teacher's attorney says she's not guilty of any sexual contact with a student.

Nadia Diaz, who until recently was /*Nadia Foth*/, was not on campus Friday. But all the chatter among students are the stunning allegations against her.

Now her attorney says Diaz is denying having any relationship with a student that was sexual or inappropriate. "Nadia was arrested based on some rumors that the school district heard."

District officials say they met with teachers at Washington Union Friday morning to inform them of the situation and how to deal with questions from students. Three additional counselors were also on campus to support students.

Aaron Dennis had Diaz as a summer school teacher. He says word of her arrest is the talk of the school. "Everybody's just going around trying to figure out who it was and nobody knows."

Diaz' attorney says she is having a tough time dealing with her sudden arrest and trip to jail. The allegations against her are from 2009.

Rick Berman, Diaz' Attorney said, "We'll of course she's very upset and she was surprised and this happened very fast."

Sheriff's investigators were called to campus Wednesday by the school principal. Detectives say they have also interviewed the victim and believe he is telling the truth.

The sexual contact is alleged to have happened off campus two years ago.

Diaz was single at the time the crimes are alleged to have taken place. But she just recently got married. She was a part-time substitute at the time of the alleged incident. She has been a full-time social science teacher the past two school years. She has not been charged but is set to appear in court next week.

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Drawing lines between teacher and student
By Rick Montanez

An education expert weighs in on the arrest of a teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student.

26-year-old Nadia Diaz was arrested Thursday by Fresno County Sheriff's deputies.

The dean of Fresno State's education department told Action News it's terrible to hear about a teacher accused of having sex with a student. While Dr. Paul Beare cannot talk specifics about what happened at Washington Union, he said this type of accusation is something his department specifically warns soon-to-be teachers to stay away from.

A troubling allegation of a teacher having sex with a student is all anyone could talk about on Washington Union's campus Friday.

History teacher Nadia Diaz is on administrative leave right now. She's under investigation for allegedly having sex twice with a 14-year-old student off campus two years ago.

"It's so heinous because teachers really are, and should be, on a pedestal in society," said Fresno State's Dean of Education Dr. Paul Beare.

Dr. Beare said teachers who train in his program are directly told where to draw the line between teacher and student.

"We tell them quite overtly, don't have sex with students," he said. "We have a very strict code of conduct, [teachers are] not to text them, they're not to call them on the phone, they're not to hang around them."

Dr. Beare said often times when a teacher has sex with a student he's found it's not always about sex. "It's about a sense of power," he said.

The attorney representing Nadia Diaz told Action News Friday his client's arrest is based on rumors. He said Diaz is denying any sexual or inappropriate relationship with a student.

"Well of course she's very upset and she was surprised and this happened very fast," said Rick Berman, Diaz's attorney.

Detectives told Action News they have interviewed the alleged victim, who is a senior at the school; they believe he is telling the truth.

The Washington Unified School District has talked with teachers about how to address questions from students related to the allegations.

Formal charges have yet to be filed against Diaz.

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