Ex-teacher sent to workhouse for contact with teen

After having repeated forbidden contact with a former student, and after being repeatedly arrested and repeatedly warned and repeatedly jailed for that contact, former high school teacher Joseph Tucker on Thursday was sentenced to serve the next year and a half in the workhouse.

Ramsey County District Judge M. Michael Monahan found Tucker, 29, had repeatedly violated terms of the probation he was given after he pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct for his relationship with a former band student at Como Park High School in St. Paul.

The former student, now 18, attended the hearing Thursday and had given Monahan a lengthy letter asking that the judge not send Tucker to prison.

Monahan, who refused to enter the letter into the court record, characterized it as "seven or eight pages" of the student's expressions that she is not a victim, that she was not coerced and that she wants a no-contact order between her and Tucker dropped.

Moreover, the student also went on to say, according to Monahan, "that you are now an adult and are able to make your own decisions."

The judge admitted he found the young woman's letter "persuasive" and "that sending Mr. Tucker to prison would not be the best outcome, all things considered."

So the judge instead sentenced Tucker to two 365-day terms, to be served consecutively, at the Ramsey County Workhouse.

With credit for about 38 days served, and presumed time off under state sentencing guidelines, Tucker will spend about 15 months behind bars.

As Monahan handed down the sentence, Tucker, wearing an orange jail overall, looked up at the ceiling. Earlier, he had given short, affirmative answers to the judge's questions about his repeated probation violations. He declined to say much more in his own defense.

The former student declined to comment.

Back in October, Tucker choked back sobs as he admitted to betraying the trust of the community and his students.

He had pleaded guilty last August to having a sexual relationship with the teenager. Nine days later, Tucker scaled a ladder to the former student's bedroom, where the couple were discovered by the student's father. Last week, Tucker was jailed again after witnesses saw him and the young woman together.

At the time, Tucker was married, with two small children. He has since been stripped of his teaching license.