Did you ever have consensual sex with him . Never. Prosecutors said she was lying. She was insulted that you didnt believe her. I was insulted that she thought someone would. A tutor and her pupil breaking all of the rules, but who was telling the truth . We both knew what we were doing was wrong. He owned me. I never had as much evidence against someone as i had in this case. Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Keith Morrison with dangerous liaisons. You two were in cohoots. Reporter it didnt have to end here. He keeps stating things that he has no evidence for as though its fact. Reporter with attorneys at war. Youve got the evidence. No. Dont just say that. It was theater of the absurd. Reporter detectives upset. I thought it was disgusting. I thought it was just really horrible the way they dragged that family through the mud. Reporter nor did there have to be a sobbing witness. Im trying to be honest up here, and its so disrespectful. Just a minute. Reporter even a judge this is getting out of control. Reporter visibly on edge. Victim bashing. Reporter it didnt have to turn out into a battle royale. Played ought for all the world to see. It didnt have to go that way at all or end this way. We the jury on count one reporter thats all hindsight now. Where a person begins a story as twisted and strange as this one can seem arbitrary perhaps, but in this case, to us it made sense to begin on a friday morning in april 2013 in the city of grand rapids, michigan, when the phone rang on the desk of detective amy lowrie. It was a call from an attorney who reported that a mother of a High School Sophomore had seen something that couldnt be unseen. The boys mother had suspected something and had taken his phone because it was broken and had the information transferred to another phone to view what was on his phone. Reporter and what was on it . Well, besides the flood of texts and photos you would expect to see on any teenagers phone, was this. It was grainy but unmistakable. A scantily clad woman, a woman clearly much older than the boy. The photo along with the accompanying Text Messages longing, urgent, breathless, left no doubt whatsoever in the mind of the detective. Immediately it was evident that there was a romantic relationship going on. Reporter so how did you view that from a legal and ethical and moral point of view . Obviously it needed to be investigated. Reporter detective lowrie was experienced in matters like the one before her now. Shes a grand Rapids Police detective but for nearly a decade has been assigned to the childrens Assessment Center as one of five fulltime investigators working on cases involving the sexual abuse of children. Five people fulltime in a town the size of grand rapids, that tells you something, doesnt it . Correct. Reporter do you find that dispiriting . Very. I think most people would find it dispiriting the amount of cases that we have to investigate of this nature. Reporter but this one needed to be investigated not only because of what the detective saw on the phone, no. It was more than that. The lawyer who called the detective worked for the Catholic Diocese of grand rapids and told her the young man in question was a student and star athlete here at grand rapids Catholic Central high school. And the woman worked here. She wasnt just any school employee. She was the Students School appointed tutor. She is a person of authority. Obviously an inappropriate relationship. I knew she was in her 30s. And that he was only 15 years old. So regardless, it was an illegal relationship. Reporter detective lowrie went over to see the boys parents. Had they questioned their son . No. The mother hadnt questioned her son at all. I think she was unsure how to bring it up. She knew that he would most likely be angry about it. Reporter she wanted somebody to put a stop to this . Absolutely. Reporter so next the detective went to Catholic Central high school, and after meeting with the administrators, pulled the young man, then a sophomore, out of class middle of the afternoon. What did he tell you . Initially he denied that there was any relationship taking place. He said that they were friends but that nothing had happened. Reporter you knew that wasnt so. Right. Based on the Text Messages. Reporter did you explain that to him . I did. I read him some of the Text Messages, and thats when he admitted that there was a sexual relationship. Reporter it often goes that way with teenager said detective lowrie. As any parent of one would understand. Stages of denial, which in this case over a series of interviews finally gave way to what the boy seemed to see as the crux of the matter. He thought that they should be allowed to have the relationship because he was mature enough and they loved each other and should be together. Its very common that they dont see themselves as the victim in this. Reporter its where it all gets kind of strange, doesnt it . Yes. Reporter and now, it was time for the detective to talk to the tutor at the center of the case, the one in that photo in the cell phone. Abigail simon. One of the many things the detective wanted to know was who made the first move. When we return, the tale of the tape, but what was true and what wasnt . Who initiated it . We never had sex. I know you had sex. He told me that. I want to know who initiated that. Im not answering that. So what im saying is, people like options. When you take geico, you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. It dont matter, day or night. Use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever. The point is, you have options. Oh, how convenient. Hey. 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A cloud darkened the joy of spring in grand rapids, michigan, that april of 2013. The mother of a sophomore at one of the citys most prestigious high schools, Catholic Central, had found this photo on a cell phone her son had been using. Couldnt just let it go. He was 15. The woman was his tutor. And so before long detective amy lowrie was assigned to figure out what was going on. The fact that the adult was female and the child male didnt really make any difference to her. I think theres a double standard in society where they view a female in this situation as victims, but i think a lot of society just doesnt feel the same way about boys. There are consequences to this type of relationship, you know, even with boys. Reporter but remember that series of interviews and shifting stories from the boy . When the detective got him to admit there was something between them, an affair consummated in the tutors gleaming highrise condo, the boy announced that it was he who started it and not her, that it wasnt her fault. So what would the tutor, Abigail Simon, say . Youre not under arrest, okay . Youre free to leave. But theres something that we need to talk about. Okay. All right . Reporter and when ms. Simon heard that Text Messages were in question, she knew why the detective was there. That pupil of hers. Do you know who im talking about now . Okay. Weve just become close this year. I tried to help him change his life around. Reporter but when the subject turned to the specifics of their relationship, which the detective felt was plainly outlined in those racy texts and photos, well, a surprise. He calls you baby girl. You call him baby boy. Do you think thats appropriate . No. I care so much for him. I do. I adore him. I dont even know what to say about it. Reporter who initiated it . I mean, i i we never actually had like we never had sex. I know you had sex. He told me that. I can read the Text Messages. Its not a question of whether you guys had sex or not. I want to know who initiated it. Who asked who to do what . Im not answering that. I dont know what your definition is then. Her response was i dont know what your definition of sex is. Reporter a little clintonesque isnt it . I would agree with that. Reporter did she tell you then what her definition was . No. She ended the interview. Reporter that was it . Correct. Reporter the detective confiscated abbys cell phone. And later that day, the diocese of grand rapids fired her as a tutor. She was told by police order not to have any contact whatsoever with the young man. Detective lowrie continued her investigation and before long was approached by other people at the school saying they had concerns about ms. Simon for a while. Some of the teachers felt her behavior was inappropriate around some other students. Reporter so then detective lowrie sought out those other students and heard Something Else may have happened. Something with another young man. There was another boy who said there was an incident in the library where they were talking, they were flirting, which they had for some time, and he kissed her. Reporter and did she tell him to stop, go away, this is inappropriate . He described it as a short kiss, and he said that that cant happen again. And she says, no, it cant. And that was the end of the story. Reporter as investigators dug deeper, another detective joined the case. Dave gillem called in for his uncanny ability to plumb a cell phone for almost anything its ever done. On abby simons iphone, that was not an easy thing to do. She had erased most of the Text Messages between her and the victim, and i was able to recover many of them. We dont know how many there were. But we did recover thousands and thousands of Text Messages. Reporter thousands . And this is material that had been erased. Material she chose to erase. Correct. Reporter what did that imply to you . She was hiding it. She knew it was not something she wanted people to see so she deleted it. Reporter the sun soon set on another school year. Abby moved back to her parents place, a twohour drive from grand rapids. Summer came. And then the detective discovered that her nocontact order wasnt enough to keep abby simon away from her teenaged lover. She tweeted him and gave him the information on how to contact her because i had her phone. So he couldnt call her anymore or text her anymore. She had changed phone numbers. Somehow he was able to email her and call her. Reporter and at least once they managed to meet in person. In fact, he was very upset at being told he couldnt see her again, right . Yes. He was in love. Reporter in fact, he created a new email account. Jose diaz 27. The photos and declarations of everlasting love flew between them at the speed of infatuation. In early august, three months after the relationship came to light, Abigail Simon drove from her parents house to the gym, and there was the police car. This was her mug shot. She was charged with several counts of criminal Sexual Conduct and accosting a minor for immoral ap purposes, but she soon made bail. And as the case against her was being prepared back in grand rapids, she sat down with us to say that everything weve been told about this socalled teacher child love story was altogether wrong. I read the police report, too. When i read it, i was, like, oh, yeah, she is guilty. None of those things were true. Reporter this was no love story, said Abigail Simon. No. More like a nightmare. Coming up after school, behind closed doors. He didnt look like a 15yearold boy. He didnt act like a 15yearold boy. He was a monster. This was not the sort of place people are often arrested, not among the fine big homes and expensive lawns of grand blanc, michigan. This is where Abigail Simon grew up. Her father a successful attorney. Both parents graduates of notre dame. But this is where she was pulled over, arrested and charged with criminal Sexual Conduct for having a relationship with her then15yearold Catholic CentralHigh School Pupil and where, in november 2014 she sat down with us in the Family Living room. How does it feel to be you right now . Well, today its scary because this is the first time im sharing this with anyone other than my therapist and my lawyers, my parents. I feel empowered to do it finally. Ive been holding on to it for so long. Reporter holding on to what exactly . Well, abby simon told us that everything youve heard about her relationship with the young man is a lie perpetuated by his family and overzealous detectives. Its hard because the way its being portrayed in my story thats already been told by them is so not the person i am. Reporter abbys story . After attending a a masters degree in Academic Advising she moved to grand rapids and was offered a position in that very specialty by the Catholic Diocese. But soon, she said, she wasnt so much advising as tutoring athletes at two catholic high schools. One of them was that boy who she said was struggling with a 1. 7 grade point average. So she helped him as much as she could often late into the evenings as she said she did with all her students. Then, said abby, it was january 2013, and the incident occurred. The thing that started it all. It happened, she said, at the end of a group study session. He waited until everyone left, and then he was so angry that i didnt give him any attention, that i wasnt helping him. And that i didnt care about him. And i was like thats a slap in the face to me because ive done everything for you. He slapped my face and said, no, thats a slap in the face. Reporter wait a minute. He slapped your face . Slapped my face. No, thats a slap in the face. Reporter hes 15 years old. You could get him kicked out of school for that. But i didnt want to. He was the scariest person alive. Reporter the scariest person alive . Abby simon was telling us something she had never told the detectives investigating this case nor even friends or family at the time she said it was going on. The appropriate response would have been immediate and it would be over. I mean, hed have to atone somehow. You were the one in charge. Did you not feel as if you could do that . Why . He didnt care if he got in trouble. He shut me down. Reporter and after . Abby said she became terrified of the big athletic young man already over six feet and nearly 200 pounds though he was just 15. Why so frightened of a teenaged boy . Well, she said, part of the reason was she had been a victim of Domestic Violence before. Back in 2007 when she was working at a retail store in chicago and had a boyfriend whom she claimed was abusive. I went into his apartment, and i said, this isnt going to work. And thats when he lost his mind on me and slammed me to the ground. Reporter do you remember what you felt like . I thought i was going to die. He told me to take my last breath, that he was going to kill me. This is how im going to die . I thought he was going to snap my neck. Thats what it felt like he was trying to do. Reporter abby said she ran for her life then. Her father, the attorney, persuaded her to go to the police and then eventually to get this restraining order though soon after that, she tried, against the judges wishes, to undo it, afraid the man would find out and hurt her, she said. The incident changed her life, said abby. I packed my stuff up and moved back home at age like 27 or 28, and like the city i loved and the job i loved was forever gone. Reporter still bothers you to think about that. Was he ever charged with anything . No. Reporter anyway, that story, said abby, could explain why she didnt report her young student at Catholic Central high when, her claim, the boy slapped her. Nor when, according to her, he stalked her and showed up at starbucks and other places near her highrise condo and made her give him the key to her apartment. Intimidated her enough she let him get control of her phone and he used it to send texts to her friends and he even tried to control who she could see and even when she went out of town. On three separate occasions, she claims, he sexually assaulted her. You know that first time if he raped you, the right thing to do is to go to the police. Hed be charged. Who would believe that . He was 15. Who is going to believe that . Reporter that lingerie photo the boys mother found, it wasnt a comeon, she said. The photo was taken in selfdefense. It was her cry for help. I wasnt posing. I was doing what he wanted me to do. I wasnt assaulted that night because i did that. Reporter did you ever have consensual sex with