Ann Margaret Bacon

Introduction

Ann Margaret Bacon is a former special-education teacher at Tartan High School in Oakdale, Minnesota, whose sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student ended her career in a felony conviction. Bacon, of Hastings, admitted to investigators that the relationship began while the teen was one of her students, and in September 2026 she pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a prohibited occupational relationship. On October 26, 2026, a Ramsey County judge sentenced her to 180 days in jail — servable on electronic home monitoring — followed by two years of supervised probation. The criminal complaint also documented that Tartan administrators received a tip about the relationship in July 2023, months before any police report, and made no mandatory report after Bacon denied wrongdoing.

Background Information

Per the North St. Paul–Maplewood–Oakdale school district, Bacon was hired as a Tartan special-education teacher in August 2022 after working as a paraprofessional during the 2021–2022 school year. School records show a tipster reported the allegations on July 9, 2023; a district official’s call to the number went unanswered, and when Principal Bethany DeCent reached Bacon by phone two days later, Bacon denied having “inappropriate interactions with students.” Per the complaint, “no further action was taken at that time and no mandatory report to police was made by school administrators.” A witness reported Bacon again on February 5, 2024, “out of concern that (Bacon) was still teaching at the high school and, as a special education teacher, had access to vulnerable students.” Bacon resigned on February 8, 2024 — the same day police interviewed her — and Superintendent Christine Tucci Osorio confirmed the resignation.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. Bacon pleaded guilty in September 2026 to third-degree criminal sexual conduct for a prohibited occupational relationship — an admission that the sexual relationship with her 18-year-old Tartan student began while he was in her class. On October 26, 2026, Judge Thomas Gilligan Jr. followed her plea deal: 180 days in jail, servable on electronic home monitoring, plus two years of supervised probation. She denied the complaint’s separate allegation that she bought alcohol for minors.

Witness accounts assembled in the complaint began in July 2023. A witness told police she and a friend reported Bacon to the school that month “because they did not feel the situation was appropriate,” describing Bacon drinking and smoking marijuana with minors and regularly having sex with the 18-year-old. The student’s former girlfriend told investigators she found sexually explicit messages and nude photographs and videos of Bacon on his phone, and that he told her the relationship began in May 2023, before his graduation.

Police obtained records from a Vadnais Heights hotel showing Bacon rented rooms there four times — May 8, June 4, June 11 and July 4 of 2023, all single-night stays. After a February 6, 2024 report to Tartan administrators and the school resource officer, police interviewed the student, who said the first sexual encounter was in July 2023 in Bacon’s car near his house, denied sex before his graduation, and said the two were dating exclusively and that he stayed at her St. Paul apartment.

Confronted on February 8, 2024 with photos of the pair taken May 8 at the Vadnais Heights hotel, Bacon initially repeated that any relationship began only after his July 2023 graduation, then admitted the sexual relationship and said it began when he was one of her students; she said it ended that month and the two were “just friends.” The complaint also notes a $40 Venmo payment to Bacon marked “liqq” that June, which she said she could not remember receiving. Investigators seized her electronics and the student’s for forensic examination, and Bacon was charged by warrant on February 12, 2024, with one felony count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Public Reaction and Consequences

DeCent notified Tartan families and staff of Bacon’s alleged misconduct and resignation by email on February 12, 2024, writing, “Please be assured that the trust and safety of our students remain our utmost priority,” and that the district was “cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation.” Asked why the July 2023 tip produced no police report, assistant superintendent Ty Thompson said in an email there “were no facts to support a reasonable belief of neglect or abuse” at the time. Witness A told police she and her friend held back from following up with administrators in 2023 because they had no evidence to give them. The October 2026 sentencing drew fresh coverage from the Pioneer Press and the New York Post, the latter framing the repeated hotel bookings as the centerpiece of the story.

Current Status

As of October 28, 2026, Bacon, 27, is convicted and sentenced. Under the September 2026 plea deal, prosecutors and the defense jointly requested a downward departure to a jail term of no more than 364 days and a gross-misdemeanor conviction; Gilligan granted the departure and imposed 180 days with credit for two days served, permission to serve the term on electronic home monitoring, and two years of supervised probation. Because the student was 18, the conviction rests on Minnesota’s prohibited-relationship statute — Minnesota law prohibits licensed educators from having sexual relations with a student at the school where they are employed — rather than on the student’s age. No statement from Bacon at sentencing has been reported.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Bacon’s resignation ended her teaching career within two years of her hire, and she leaves the profession with a felony sexual-conduct conviction and a jail sentence to serve on home monitoring. The complaint’s documented record — a July 2023 tip that went unanswered at the district, a denial to the principal, and no mandatory report to police until a second witness came forward in February 2024 — remains part of the public record alongside the district’s written defense of that handling. Tartan’s leadership, for its part, publicly emphasized cooperation with the investigation and the safety of its students.

Sources

Pioneer Press (Twin Cities), “Former Tartan High School teacher sentenced for sex with student,” Oct 27, 2026 — source
Pioneer Press (Twin Cities), “Tartan High School special ed teacher accused of sex with student,” Feb 12, 2024 — source
KARE 11, “Charges: Special education teacher had sex with student,” Feb 2024 — source
NY Post, “Twisted special ed teacher booked hotels for sex with teenage student,” Oct 28, 2026 — source
@nypost trigger tweet, Oct 28, 2026 — source