On July 2, 2009, Judge Fredrik Spencer gave Tricia D. Mallernee, of Anderson, Indiana, a three-year suspended sentence on each of four counts of child solicitation. The judge gave Mallernee a one-year suspended sentence for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, for giving the victim alcohol. This was in accordance with the terms of her plea agreement with the prosecutors. In addition, she will serve three years on probation and must register as a sex offender for 10 years.
During an interview with the police, the victim had stated that he did not want Mallernee to go to prison.
According to Herald Bulletin the 17-year old exchange student arrived in Anderson in August 2008. Two weeks later Mallernee and the exchange student had sex for the first time.
The sexual relationship continued through April. Mallernee and the teen had sex in her home and while on a spring vacation in Florida. On one occasion in April, Mallernee had the boy dismissed from school early and the pair had sex at Mounds State Park.
The teen told investigators he initially wanted to be in the relationship. But later he tried to end it, fearing Mallernee was becoming “emotionally attached and he did not feel the same way.”
Mallernee allegedly threatened to have the boy removed from the home if he ended the relationship, law enforcement officials said. He told investigators that he was afraid that moving to a new home would mean having to stop participating in school activities. He continued in the relationship….
Mallernee is married, but her husband was very ill during most of her relationship with the teen. The man, who is not named in the court documents, was hospitalized several times, “making Tricia’s activities with (the teen) possible without easy detection,” the court documents state.
The relationship came to the attention of Indiana Department of Children’s Services case workers, who then contacted police. Mallernee was arrested by Madison County sheriff’s deputies arrested Tricia D. Mallernee, 32, at the jail June 2, 2009.
Foreign student exchange 