Former Hamilton County Teacher Sentenced For Sexual Battery And Solicitation Of A Minor

Image Credit: Hamilton County Jail & Google Earth

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

A former Hamilton County Schools middle school teacher was sentenced to six months in jail plus probation after pleading guilty to child sex crimes recently.

Mark Allen Hernandez, a former history and social studies teacher at Brown Middle School, was arrested on March 6 for an inappropriate relationship with a student who was 13 at the time. The relationship allegedly took place in 2019.

Hernandez pleaded guilty the same day to sexual battery by an authority figure and 2 counts of solicitation of a minor.

Investigators say that Hernandez, 58, gave the student a cell phone with his contact information saved under the name “My Dude.” The child’s mother found the phone while on vacation and reported it to police the following day.

Police found a number of sexually explicit messages from Hernandez, including one in which he attempted to convince the girl to leave her house to have sex with him and others where he asked her to send him illicit photos of herself.

The student stated that she once met with Hernandez in his classroom, where he kissed her and grabbed her backside. She also said she would come back to Brown Middle School after she moved on to another school to meet up with Hernandez.  

Hernandez was sentenced to 6 years in jail for sexual battery and 4 years in jail for solicitation of a minor, to be served concurrently. He was ordered to spend six months in jail and serve the remainder on probation.