Ex-teacher sentenced for sexually abusing student in juvenile detention in Kentucky

Muri Assunção, New York Daily News on Nov 13, 2025

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A former teacher was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for sexually abusing one of her students at a juvenile detention facility in Kentucky.

Elena Bardin, 27, of Columbia, was convicted in September of sexual abuse, unlawful transaction with a minor, and distribution of obscene material to a minor in connection with her abuse of a 17-year-old boy held at the Adair County Juvenile Detention Center.

Bardin, a married mother of a 5-year-old, was also accused of soliciting the teenager to murder her husband, but a jury acquitted her of that charge.

On Thursday, she was sentenced to consecutive terms of 10 years for unlawful transaction with a minor and four years for sexual abuse. She also received a 12-month sentence for a distribution charge, to be served concurrently, and was ordered to register as a sex offender for 20 years.

Bardin was arrested on April 2, 2025, after staff at the detention center found “letters and explicit material” she had allegedly written to a teen held at the facility, officials said.

The material was turned over to Kentucky State Police detectives, who found evidence that she had “solicited a male juvenile to kill her husband.”

The material also indicated that Bardin “subjected the juvenile to illegal sexual contact and provided him with sexually explicit images of herself.”

According to prosecutors, in one of the letters confiscated by investigators, Bardin talks about oral sex and having sex in the boy’s cell.

She then finishes the note by writing, “I hope you enjoyed that. I did.”

Another note reads, “I know you say you’ll take care of him, but shouldn’t someone else do it so suspicion is miles away from you? IDK, I’m going to miss you so (redacted) bad tonight. You look so handsome today, love. I love you.”

Overall, there were 193 pages of “letters, pictures and everything else,” Judge Todd Spalding said at sentencing, noting that some of the material was “juicy” and contained “things you’d see in a triple-X movie.”

The judge also noted that Bardin’s supervisor testified that she had been counseled to end the relationship and distance herself from the teen.

“And ma’am, not only did you not heed that advice and stop, it looks to me like you actually doubled down on the behavior after that,” he said.

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