CLEVELAND (WJW) — A former North Ridgeville City Schools teacher, who pleaded guilty to stalking her ex-boyfriend, was stunned to learn Thursday she would be jailed, despite an apparent agreement between attorneys that she should only face probation.
Hannah Freeman, 27, of North Ridgeville, was indicted last year on several felony counts including menacing by stalking, trespassing, theft and identity fraud, but pleaded guilty in late June to reduced misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing justice and possessing criminal tools, court filings show.
Freeman had been accused of showing up at Westlake’s Lee Burneson Middle School, where the victim worked, and breaking into the man’s vehicle on Nov. 7. Freeman, who was in her own vehicle when confronted by police that day, said the man had invited her there.
Prosecutors said the two had dated, but that they had broken up several months earlier and Freeman didn’t realize the relationship was over.
License plate-reading cameras spotted Freeman’s car on Westlake City Schools property 33 times in 19 days — all in the same month span, according to an investigation. Prosecutors admitted the victim had, on occasion, invited her there, but that he had told her he didn’t want to see her on Nov. 7.
Prosecutors said Freeman took a backpack from the man’s car in order to get the man to talk to her. It contained laptops, his wallet and keys to his apartment and his workplace at the school, according to the investigation.
Cuyahoga County Judge David Matia on Thursday called the situation a “bizarre break-up between two professionals.”
Freeman, who was a fourth-grade teacher at Ranger High Tech Academy, was placed on unpaid administrative leave after her indictment in November, and ultimately did not return to the district, according to a school district spokesperson. Her contract with the district expired on June 30.
“I definitely acted out of emotion and I regret the decision that I made that night, and I will take steps necessary to move on from this incident and you will not see me back here again,” Freeman the the court before her sentence was read on Thursday.
Attorneys had apparently agreed Freeman would be placed on probation and be ordered to undergo mental health treatment.
But Judge Matia ordered Freeman to serve the first seven days of her 18-month probationary sentence in the Cuyahoga County jail, which appeared to come as a surprise to Freeman and her attorney, Michael Kinlin of Elyria.
Kinlin immediately moved to withdraw Freeman’s guilty plea, saying jail time was not part of the agreed sentence.
Judge Matia said Kinlin had not met with him about sentencing while the case had been pending for the past six months. Kinlin claimed he could not schedule a meeting regarding sentencing, but admitted he did not ask the judge about sentencing.
“I’m offended you would make the insinuation here that I don’t work here enough,” Judge Matia said. “Your bad practice is not my problem.”
Judge Matia also ordered Freeman to be placed under house arrest — with electronic monitoring and work release — for the first 90 days of her sentence. She was also ordered to have no contact with the victim and to undergo mental health counseling on “healthy boundaries.”
Freeman became visibly distressed before she was ushered out of the courtroom.
