According to her attorney, Alissa McCommon’s family is “experiencing some ridicule” after the Tennessee elementary school teacher was accused of raping a youngster.
According to an affidavit, McCommon, a 38-year-old mother of two from Covington, is suspected of raping a 12-year-old kid in 2021, when he allegedly woke up to McCommon sexually assaulting him when he was spending the night at her home.
“She’s a human and she has a family, too. And there are victims, arguably, on both sides of this case, regardless of her guilt or innocence,” attorney Jere Mason of Huffman Mason PLLC told Fox News Digital. “She’s got two minor children herself. They’ve had to pull them out of school, and they’re experiencing some ridicule.”
Mason stated that he knows McCommon’s husband “very well” from their time together as sheriff’s deputies.
“My perception had always been they were good folks. And so regardless of her guilt or innocence, any person in this situation would be under extreme mental stress,” Mason said. “And I just have to defend her properly. I have to know that my client … is understanding everything and in the right mind of everything.”
McCommon, a former fourth-grade teacher, was ordered by a Tipton County court to undergo a mental health evaluation, which Mason hopes will be finished soon.
McCommon was detained on September 8 and released on $250,000 bond before being arrested again on September 28, when officials accused her of coercing, harassing, and stalking the victim.
McCommon’s second bond was cancelled by the judge after officials claimed she broke the terms of her release by contacting the victim using a previously unknown phone number after she initially bonded out of jail.
A lady identified as McCommon says she is pregnant in a recording of a phone call from the phone number played aloud in court last week.
“I’m going to raise this baby. I can do this,” McCommon can allegedly be heard saying in a phone call with the victim that was played aloud in court on Oct. 3, according to FOX 13 Memphis.
Mason stated that he lacks proof to indicate “one way or another” that the pregnancy claim is “true.”
In a text message from the phone number to the victim, McCommon allegedly wrote, “I’m just really scared. I don’t even know if it’s you or not … I will never text you again. You will never hear from me again, just please don’t say anything,” according to FOX 13.
In another text to the victim, she allegedly wrote, “This was a mistake, this is my burden. OMG delete this number, please don’t get me in trouble,” the outlet reported.
Mason believes prosecutors have not produced enough evidence to indicate McCommon called and texted the victim from an unknown number at this time.
“It’s not … a registered phone. It’s just some random number. They don’t have the phone or any proof of registration,” Mason explained. “So, they had these text messages. Someone in the text thread claims they’re Alissa, and then [prosecutors] tried to infer that there were some code words used that had previously been used by [McCommon] in communication with some of the juveniles, allegedly.”
Mason also claimed that the officer who testified that it was McCommon on the phone had only heard the suspect’s voice “once for a few moments” about five weeks before the hearing last week when the recording was played aloud.
“This is a very difficult case for everyone,” the attorney said. “These allegations … are heinous, especially someone that we’re trusting with the care and instruction of our children. … But I just wish that the public would be patient and let the justice system take its course, and in due time, evidence will either come out or not. And justice will be served one way or the other.”
McCommon allegedly admitted in September to “communicating inappropriately with former students” via online video games and social media applications, sending them “inappropriate photographs” and requesting “sexual relationships with the victims,” according to police.
According to an affidavit, the Covington Police Department began investigating the teacher after receiving information from the Department of Children Services that McCommon had allegedly engaged in sexual contact with a young male pupil.
“The evidence indicates McCommon texted a victim, using a specific code word known to the juvenile as a code word McCommon would previously utilize to confirm that the juvenile was alone, often before sending nude photographs on Snapchat,” Covington Police said in a statement.
According to authorities, there is no indication that McCommon’s claimed offences occurred on school grounds. The Covington Police Department is seeking any further victims who may have had contact with McCommon.
According to Tipton County Director of Schools Dr. John Combs, McCommon was suspended without pay on August 24 after a parent “brought forth allegations of misconduct” against the instructor that morning.
McCommon’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 27.
