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[dramatic music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- I had a great marriage.

You don't realize how quickly life can change.

- Teacher of the Year is now charged with sex crimes.

JENIFER: Sexual assault of a student.

- How could that possibly be true?

JENIFER: I get into his email.

There's a photo of a woman, half naked.

Prostitutes, escorts...

His other life

was devious and deceptive.

There was nothing about this that was love.

KIM WIGINGTON: Slowly I just began to realize,

if he is this addicted, yes, he did it.

He had sex with a student.

- Spencer escalated so much in his behaviors

that he became a predator and a criminal.

- Well, that former Teacher of the Year right here

in jail tonight, the allegations

from groping to sex with students.

JENIFER: Rachel is the name of the former student

who came forward with allegations

against Spencer Herron

that led to his arrest.

ANDREA: Any case that involves a minor

is usually closed, so we never had any intention

of interviewing Rachel for the podcast,

because we wanted to protect her anonymity.

But we reached out to her civil attorney.

He thought that potentially,

Rachel would be interested in talking.

She agreed to sit down and do a formal interview.

[dramatic music]

[dramatic music]

[shattering glass]

♪♪ ♪♪

- One of the positive things that has come from the podcast

is being asked to, um, do some speaking engagements.

So Rachel and I were asked to come and speak

to the criminology department

at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega.

The brave soul that came forward

and reported the abuse

she endured by her trusted teacher

reclaimed her voice and said, "No more."

She was the victim of my ex-husband's

despicable crimes.

But more importantly, she's a survivor,

and Rachel is my friend.

Come on up, Rachel.

[applause]

- Thank you, Jenifer.

This was me at 15 years old.

I was a shy kid who focused on doing good in school.

I was just opening up and expanding

my friend group at this time.

ANDREA: She met him at video production class,

sophomore year.

And through that program, she got to know him

and feel safe with him.

- So I'm Spencer Herron, the video teacher here at Kell.

- So many people, faculty, students, respected him.

As a colleague, as a mentor,

he meant a lot to this community.

MICHIKA: I graduated Kell High School in 2008.

Coach Herron was called Coach

because he was the girls' soccer coach.

- Attention all soccer players.

To be in shape, possibly for tryouts,

attending workouts after school is highly recommended.

MICHIKA: But I knew Coach Herron

as my video production teacher.

- When I'm not missing my seniors in my video class,

you know, you know I'm watching Unbelievabeef, last episode.

MICHIKA: He was definitely viewed as the cool teacher.

Everybody wanted to take his class.

Video production definitely was my favorite class,

and he was my favorite teacher for sure.

His class felt like a break from the regular school day.

RACHEL: This was a post I made on social media.

But little did I know that this was the day

that would change my life forever.

I joined a club, a club called Drone Club.

And it was started by my video-audio teacher,

Spencer Herron.

It started out small, and I was

the first girl to join.

We met once a week after school, every Thursday.

And this was my outlet.

I actually enjoyed it.

MATT: Spencer had these clubs.

The drone one was the only one that I really heard

that kids were doing much with,

but all I believe they were doing

was just playing with drones

on the football field.

RACHEL: We had a group chat

that we basically talked about music,

movies and films, and it all changed one afternoon,

when Herron asked to have

each of our own numbers individually

after hearing about our group chat.

His reasoning was something like

we had to let him know if we couldn't make it

to that week's meeting or not.

But he did this with everyone,

so I thought this was okay, surely.

That is, until I started receiving text messages

from him directly.

ANDREA: A lot of it was just about the Drone Club,

equipment and checking in and checking out.

Everything was so casual.

Boundaries were being lowered.

Then the text exchanges with Rachel

started to change in tone.

They would talk about movies, talk about music,

and share personal, intimate details about their life.

RACHEL: He complimented my work and my music taste.

Finding any commonalities we had was his goal.

I liked a band, he loved that band.

I liked this movie,

well, conveniently, he just watched it that day.

"Double take," I remember him texting me

one day after school,

which followed with a screenshot

of a social media profile pic that I had posted

previously beforehand.

This is when the compliments on my looks began.

He'd say some things like,

how could someone so pretty and so smart

not have a boyfriend?

I was flattered by the compliments.

I was a teenager who was very insecure about herself,

and it was something that he saw

and that he took advantage of.

[ominous music]

There were the beginning stages

of this predatory communication.

And this would evolve into something

that you see right in front of you.

It's my facial expression, as you can see.

And the other faces you can't see--

they're smiling, but I wasn't.

And the reality is, is because he was touching me

in that photo.

No one else saw it.

[dramatic music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- It started with subtle touches here and there,

putting away equipment at the end of class

and briefly touching my hand.

Passing my seat and quickly touching my hair.

- And then one day, he said he had feelings for her.

He said, "Let's just have a conversation

and address it" after school one day.

She goes and finds him to talk about the fact

that he has these big feelings for her.

[desolate music]

♪♪ ♪♪

ANDREA: At this point, she is a virgin.

She doesn't have a ton of romantic history.

And she is facing this adult who has a wealth of knowledge

and experience in that area.

RACHEL: When there's a position of power,

there is no consent at all.

The reality is that teenagers and children

don't know how to say no.

Or they don't know that they can even say no.

ANDREA: That made her uncomfortable.

But this well-respected teacher,

if he is coming to me saying, "I'm in love with you,

this is meant to be," he must really love me.

She believed him.

ANDREA: But it had to be kept secret.

She had to change his name in her phone

to the name of one of her friends.

She was really close with her family.

She was lying to her parents.

RAMANI: Secret keeping creates a false sense of intimacy

between two people.

This relationship we're experiencing together

is special.

Most people wanna be

a part of something special.

- It becomes clear, even with a vulnerable person,

that something's not right here.

Now the person in this kind of relationship

is actually somewhat trapped.

They feel, "Where can I go with this?

"I can't tell anyone this,

"because if I tell somebody this,

"someone's gonna get in trouble, I could look bad,

"this could hurt me and other opportunities.

My parents may get mad."

Or, most importantly, "Nobody's gonna believe me."

- I went from a happy, carefree, and hopeful teenager

to a cynical, angry, and depressed one.

I completely shut myself out from people.

I withdrew from my family and my friends.

And by the time I was a senior,

I had no communication with anyone

that I was involved with at school.

I felt like I wasn't deserving of anything good in my life.

ANDREA: At some point, you start to feel like,

"If this is a truly loving relationship,

"I wanna be able to share that

"with the other people in my life,

the people that I love."

And when you can't share that, that starts to feel wrong.

[uneasy music]

RACHEL: I hated holding something like this

from my parents. I felt dirty.

What would others think of me if I came out about this?

Would my parents hate me?

I would see them sitting at a table,

and I would just imagine myself coming out to them

and telling them the truth of what was going on.

But, um, I was held back by the thought of shame

and not being accepted.

And then I realized how I felt for the past couple of years

wasn't right.

ANDREA: Rachel's relationship with Spencer

spanned about three years.

But her senior year, he was deployed.

And it was the first time that Rachel felt

this sense of relief.

I wasn't being watched,

and I wasn't being controlled anymore.

I wasn't under his thumb.

This gave me the clarity I needed

to see how things weren't right:

the depression, uh, angry all the time for no reason.

Then I just couldn't take it anymore.

[dramatic music]

ANDREA: He would brag to Rachel

about having other relationships.

At one point, he shared with her a story

about having a threesome.

And one day, she was in a class

where they were talking about STDs.

- And that's when she decided

that she needed to tell her parents.

- I sat my mom down on Mother's Day of 2018

and told her initially that I was afraid

I potentially had an STD.

She'd asked if I had had sex with a boy from school.

I told her no, and then I said his name, Coach Herron.

I will never forget the look on her face

when I told her his name.

[dramatic music]

She told me, "I have to tell your dad."

And out of embarrassment, I cried,

and I pleaded with her, and I said, "Don't tell him."

She went ahead and took my dad aside

and said that they had to go for a drive.

And I didn't see them for hours after that.

To this day, I never asked how that drive went

between my mom and my dad.

They came back home, and they both sat me down and said

I needed to go to the police.

And all I could say was "Okay."

- A Cobb County Teacher of the Year nominee

accused of sexual assault involving a student.

REPORTER: This is the mug shot of 48-year-old Spencer Herron.

REPORTER 2: A victim told police

she engaged in unprotected sex

at Herron's request multiple times,

beginning in January of last year.

REPORTER 3: Two former students,

who did not want to go on camera,

told me Herron was a great coach and teacher.

The other student added Herron was a professional

and kind-hearted.

She told me she does not believe

the allegations are true.

MICHIKA: When I first found out about his arrest,

I just couldn't believe that something like this

could even happen.

- Most people weren't

too interested in believing that

because of the impression that a lot of us had

of Spencer Herron.

He was Teacher of the Year, you know.

MATT: I was hired about two months

after Spencer Herron got arrested.

And so, when I first started my new program at Kell,

there was a lot of backlash.

There was definitely a large group of students

who really missed the old program,

really missed the old teacher.

I don't think they cared about the allegations

and all the stories.

When I started talking to other faculty members

about Spencer,

it was nothing but glowing reviews,

all these positive things

about how great his program was,

how much the kids loved his program,

that he was the cool teacher amongst the students

and the faculty.

A couple male teachers, they would say,

"There's two sides to every story."

♪♪ ♪♪

RACHEL: I was in a situation where I was in his office

and he was holding my hand.

And a teacher walked in and saw it, looked at us both,

and walked out.

And I never saw that teacher again.

♪♪ ♪♪

MATT: I was just baffled.

We're reading articles

about him assaulting a student,

and I still couldn't get a negative story

out of anybody.

RACHEL: Overall, there's a fear of retribution,

fear of losing their job, fear of losing their credibility

or getting a coworker in trouble.

It's that mentality of protecting one another.

ANDREA: A lot of teachers and faculty came

to Spencer Herron's defense

because people trusted him.

JENIFER: A lot of people thought,

"Oh, the student--

"she's probably just trying to accuse him

"of something that didn't really happen,

or maybe she had pursued and she was hurt now."

- I did see some of that victim blaming.

My friend had said, "I just don't understand

"how that girl could do that.

"Do your parents not teach you to, like, be more careful

and not go to a hotel with a grown man?"

[uneasy music]

♪♪ ♪♪

RACHEL: After I came forward,

I had victim-shaming commentary online

such as, "She knew what she was doing."

"What was she wearing?"

"It was her hormones."

"She wanted him."

I even saw the question, "Was she hot enough?"

And these people didn't know me from scratch.

Inappropriate relationships between students and teachers

are not romantic.

I was made to feel like an adult.

I was having to pretend to be more grown than I was.

And on top of that, I was made to look like a villain.

ANDREA: She was gonna take this to the grave.

But the bravery of just sharing the situation was tremendous.

And by her coming forward, it empowered others to say,

"Something's not right here."

[dramatic music]

KEELY: So my video production classes with Spencer

were really fun.

He was the cool teacher.

Everyone really liked him.

It's weird, 'cause there was this dual feeling of shock.

Like, I didn't really wanna believe it either,

but also, I guess I always knew

he was inappropriate in some way,

even though I would have hated to admit it back then.

- Teacher bribes?

They're gonna get a passing grade.

Depends on what they bring me as to how high the grade.

KEELY: Kids knew that they could get away with stuff

with him. I knew that.

I tended to skip his class.

And he--he would never tell on you

or anything like that.

In the moment, I did feel like I was special.

And also, I did self-harm, and I'm okay to admit that.

And it was something that he had noticed.

And he didn't tell a guidance counselor

or, like, the administration or my parents or anybody.

As a kid, I appreciated it.

But he should have.

If they're keeping secrets or asking you to keep secrets,

there's something not right.

Because an adult who really cares about you

is not gonna do that.

They're gonna want you to get help.

MATT: When I first started my new program,

seniors came in on the first day that I had,

and they were all so upset

that the room had changed.

They were like, "Where's the Elvis blanket?"

He would hang the blanket over his office window.

Why did he hang a blanket over his window?

And they go, "Oh, so he didn't want students

looking in the office."

It just seemed so awful and strange

that no one noticed

that this teacher had coverings over his windows, um,

during the school day and all the time.

[eerie music]

As I was clearing out the room and trying to make it my own,

I went through the filing cabinets,

and I found an email correspondence

between him and a contact in LA

that, you know, boiled down to Spencer's interest

in possibly getting into the porn industry.

♪♪ ♪♪

And it was just shocking.

Why would you print these emails

and keep them in your filing cabinet

at a school?

RACHEL: This is how grooming works:

desensitizing the child,

mentioning pornography, masturbation,

anything that would be uncomfortable to the child,

to where pushing those boundaries

would become normalized.

♪♪ ♪♪

- This note is dated May 2008, which was when I graduated.

It says, "Michika, I can't say goodbye, so I won't even try.

"I hope we can stay friends, work together,

"and both grow in video production.

"I want to thank you for being you.

"There has never been one like you,

nor will there ever."

Sorry, his handwriting is kind of wacky.

"I know without a doubt that you will succeed

"in whatever you desire to try.

"I only hope to get to share it with you someday.

"I already miss you.

Much love, Coach Herron."

♪♪ ♪♪

When I read this back when I was 17,

it made me feel really special.

None of my other teachers wrote me a goodbye letter.

But reading it now is like,

it's kind of a weird way to, like,

talk to a student, you know?

♪♪ ♪♪

After I graduated, I got, like, a few messages on Facebook

from him.

The conversation each time would end

with him suggesting that we go get coffee

sometime to catch up.

That never ended up happening.

I can believe now that he did have ulterior motives

other than just saying a friendly hello

to a former student.

ANDREA: Jen found messages

between him and other former students.

Not just one, not just two, dozens.

He was constantly just cultivating

as many opportunities as possible.

- After I graduated, Spencer did message me on Facebook.

And I was really thinking it was a fake account.

Here's this popular teacher

that all of the female students thought

was super attractive,

and, you know, he was messaging me, an 18-year-old.

He kept saying, "So cool to watch you mature and grow."

And "I was always fond of you."

Then he came to my job.

When he came in, he hugged me.

It was kind of a longer hug

than I would have been comfortable with.

And he very audibly sniffed me.

And my manager noticed.

And when Spencer left,

he asked me, "Who was that guy?"

♪♪ ♪♪

That was kind of where it ceased,

and then I went and blocked his number.

- In the end, nothing happened with Michika or Keely.

They both turned him down.

But that wasn't the case for some.

And there were former students that he had affairs with.

RAMANI: These earlier relationships

with teenage girls,

waiting until they turned 18.

As some of those were actually yielding the results he wanted

and he wasn't getting caught,

that then led to the escalation.

RAMANI: Advantaging trust and vulnerability

and using things that are actually important

in relationships, like feeling special and value

and chosen, and instead, distorting those

and pathologizing those to take advantage of people.

- And that's what these predators do,

is they groom you by providing things for you,

doing all these things and get to the point where,

"Well, I've done all this for you.

Now I need you to do something for me."

And boom, next thing you know, it's sexual assault.

- This is a toxic dynamic that everybody needs to know about.

RACHEL: The grooming, it's a process.

Usually, people who are in positions of power,

such as coaches, teachers, religious leaders...

They first develop an attraction

to a specific child.

RAMANI: It's almost like predator glasses.

[eerie music]

He was often focusing on young women who were shy,

may not have had as many friends,

may not have sort of fit conventional standards

of what makes a gal popular in high school.

And that vulnerability is what was making them

a sort of viable target.

FLYNN: It's almost like watching

an animal show channel

where the lion is sitting there,

looking for the weakest person.

RAMANI: You have somebody who was

the Teacher of the Year twice,

who was beloved by students

and many colleagues.

And now I want you to stop and sit down and think

you're a teenage girl.

And now I want you to stop and think

about what it would feel like

to be the one who calls that teacher out.

That is nothing short of miraculous.

Most survivors don't feel safe enough to speak out,

and I completely understand that,

because what Rachel did

didn't come without incredible harm

and risk and anguish for her.

[melancholy music]

♪♪ ♪♪

KEELY: He raped that student.

I know that Georgia doesn't wanna call it that,

but that's what it is when someone can't consent.

So if she hadn't come forward,

what would he have done to someone else?

It could have been me.

She's a hero.

RACHEL: Although this happened to me and my family,

it is none other than my responsibility to heal,

and I know that, but we all bear the responsibility

of protecting children in the school system.

RAE: I know I may never

actually meet her face to face,

but I hope that she sees this and know

how courageous I think that she is

for what she did and what she took on.

[uplifting music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- I want to thank you all for being here today

and thank you for taking the time to listen to me.

Thank you. [applause]

- I am so sorry that she went through that experience,

knowing that it could have been me 25 years earlier.

JENIFER: Spence wrote me one letter

addressing the sexual assault of the student.

And he blamed the student for what happened.

[dramatic music]

He said, "I've never ever looked at her

"in any inappropriate way.

"I can remember Rachel starting to stare at me,

"longer looks, more often.

"She was being very obvious.

"I was packing up to go and was in my office,

and she surprised me.

"I think she said something like, 'What are you doing?'

"'I'm going home,' I said.

"'That's too bad,' she responded.

"Then I remember a kiss.

"She was very aggressive most of the time.

"I was sure it was something she was super familiar with.

I was never taking some kind of leading role."

Spence denied ever being forceful.

In fact, he said,

"I'm not the monster

that she's making me out to be."

How can you not take responsibility

for something like that?

Wake up. You are a teacher.

About two years after all of that,

he called me from prison.

♪♪ ♪♪

RECORDED MESSAGE: To accept charges

and consent to this recorded call,

press 1.

You may start the conversation now.

[somber music]

♪♪ ♪♪

JENIFER: It had been a few years

since I had spoken to Spencer.

I was hoping that maybe he had changed

and started to take more accountability

for what he had done.

I didn't know what I was walking into.

♪♪ ♪♪

[investigatory music]

ANDREA: We know that he was on email,

Facebook Messenger, text,

persistently reaching out to people

to create opportunities.

JENIFER: So in his mind,

he's made it somehow not so bad,

and what he did not so wrong.

- He was saying to Jenifer, "That's what bad is,

so you see, I'm not so bad."

- He's trying to say, "It could be worse.

It could be this."

JENIFER: You don't get healed from that right away.

He's incapable of understanding

how big his problem or his issues are.

That was really his main concern, was himself.

ANDREA: There was a chance that he was up for parole

months sooner, and Rachel wrote the parole board,

petitioning for him to stay behind bars.

- The parole board took that letter really seriously.

And an early release was denied.

- When you say "stay below the radar," what do you mean?

You're not gonna go back to your old behavior?

Because he didn't say, "I'm gonna change my ways.

I'm gonna get therapy."

It was about not getting caught again.

CALL SYSTEM: You have one minute left.

SINGER: ♪♪ Don't you know that you gotta take

♪♪ Some of the blame? ♪♪

- You don't just move on from something like this.

SINGER: ♪♪ You said those unkind words ♪♪

♪♪ 'Cause you think it's a game ♪♪

♪♪ Well, it's not ♪♪

JENIFER: What Spence doesn't realize

is that this is gonna have an impact

on so many people for such a long time.

SINGER: ♪♪ Yeah, it's got real serious ♪♪

- People aren't just gonna get over it

like he would like for them to.

♪♪ ♪♪

JENIFER: I don't need to talk to Spence anymore.

I was just hoping that he would somehow

explain everything and give me an answer to why he did this.

SINGER: ♪♪ You could be anything you like ♪♪

- I never got those answers.

SINGER: ♪♪ So why do you choose to be so unkind? ♪♪

[suspenseful music]

ANDREA: Spencer was eventually granted parole

in the summer of 2022.

He had done what he was told he had to do.

A clean slate, that's what he was after.

However, he'll still serve 15 years' probation.

He'll be registered as a sex offender.

♪♪ ♪♪

[melancholy music]

- When I found out that Spencer had been released,

it was, uh, shocking.

APRIL: I don't think five years is enough

for the magnitude of the crime,

especially against such a young person.

FLYNN: The law would require him

to register as a sex offender,

make sure that he's not allowed to be around children

under the age of 18, whether it be work, where he lives.

All those things would apply.

- Being a mom and having a daughter, it's scary.

It's very scary to think that this situation

could happen pretty easily.

ANDREA: I know that Spencer's out.

He's spending time with family.

And that's been really hard for Jen.

I think that she assumed that when he got out of jail,

it wouldn't necessarily be a soft landing.

And I think that he's landed pretty comfortably,

and that's been hard for her to digest.

RAMANI: When someone behaves as badly as Spencer did,

I use the analogy of sort of an asteroid hitting.

It's not just about the impact,

it's not just about the suddenness,

but it's about the blast zone.

There was so much collateral damage

of other people hurt,

it was absolutely extraordinary.

JEFFREY: There was an abruptness to this.

We never saw or spoke to Spence after this happened.

It's like you have this person in your life one day,

and then he's never in your life again.

- The whole thing is just absolutely heartbreaking

across the board.

- They were both my friend, and so I felt betrayed, too,

because someone that I thought I knew

was completely different.

BECKY SHAHEEN: ♪♪ When you break the truth down ♪♪

- Apparently, the Spencer I know,

the person I know, doesn't exist.

BECKY SHAHEEN: ♪♪ Be careful what you find ♪♪

♪♪ Careful what ♪♪

- All of the experiences

that so many other people had with him,

I didn't have those experiences.

So why do I feel so shattered and destroyed and betrayed?

GAIL: I did feel betrayed

because we had put so much into him

for so many years,

that he would do that to us,

knowing us, knowing our family?

Who is this man that would do that, married to my daughter?

As I'm talking right now about this,

I'm really realizing that this is the first time

I've admitted that-- that I'm so angry,

that I'm angry about it.

[sighs]

- The healing's not over yet.

I'm not out of the woods yet.

I am still clawing my way back out of this deep, dark hole

that I fell into.

ANDREA: But the Jen that I met in 2019

is a different person than the Jen I see today.

I always knew she was strong.

Now I see a woman that knows her strength.

[downbeat music]

♪♪ ♪♪

GAIL: Jenifer knows how to survive.

- [laughs]

- She has done it, right?

She's done it all of her life.

She could just make it happen.

ELLER: ♪♪ This will be my final teardrop ♪♪

♪♪ This will be our curtain call ♪♪

♪♪ Take this as my last confession ♪♪

♪♪ This will be mine after all ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪

- Jen is not defined by her marriage to Spencer.

Jen is not defined by the podcast Betrayal.

Jen is Jen.

And the most important part of the healing journey

is for us to not be defined by our stories,

but to simply be our authentic selves.

That is going to be the healing journey for Jen,

for Rachel, and for anyone else that was harmed by this story.

JENIFER: To this day, I am so grateful

Rachel did come forward.

It was the bravest thing she could have done,

and it also saved my life.

If she hadn't brought Spencer's activity to light,

I may never have learned of his deception.

I could still be married to this monster.

I really want this story

to give other people the courage to speak up

and to talk about these topics

that are really difficult to speak about.

♪♪ ♪♪

By coming forward, by speaking out,

you could be saving somebody else

from having to go through something horrible.

If I could just help one person

by sharing my story,

then I was bringing purpose to it.

I wouldn't trade what happened to me for anything now.

I think I've grown a lot from it.

I don't know what the future looks like.

None of us do.

But if we just keep moving forward, we're gonna be okay.

ELLER: ♪♪ This will be my final teardrop ♪♪

♪♪ This will be our curtain call ♪♪

♪♪ Take this as my last confession ♪♪

♪♪ This will be mine after all ♪♪

♪♪ Oh, this will be ♪♪

♪♪ My final teardrop ♪♪

♪♪ This will be our curtain call ♪♪

♪♪ Take this as my last confession ♪♪

♪♪ This will be mine after all, after all ♪♪

♪♪ A final teardrop ♪♪

[dark music]

♪♪ ♪♪