Good Morning America Exclusive Interview With Kelsey Peterson’s Student

GOOD MORNING AMERICA (ABC) EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FERNANDO RODRIQUEZ TRANSCRIPT.  Watch the report at http://abcnews.go.com

Now to the sixth-grade,  teacher who crossed the line and seduced her 12-year-old student and then crossed the border – taking him to Mexico to continue their sexual relationship. The law caught up with them and on Wednesday, Kelsey Peterson pleaded guilty to federal charges. Now the boy is telling his side of the story in a Good Morning America exclusive. ABC's Andrea Canning Reports.

Fernando Rodriguez

“She would, like, say that i was different from the rest;

that I was more mature.”

Canning Script

At just 12 years old, Fernando Rodriguez was swept up in what he thought was an exciting love affair with his sixth grade math teacher – then-25-year-old Kelsey Peterson.

Rodriquez Interacts With Canning

Andrea Canning

“things you couldn't talk to your parents about, you could talk to”

Fernando Rodriguez

“yeah.”

Andrea Canning

“Kelsey about? what kind of things?”

Fernando Rodriguez

“I don't know, like about problems with, like, my friends or something like that in school, i would just go talk to her.”

Canning Script

Rodriguez, now 14, says they shared affectionate e-mails and late nights at her Lexington, Nebraska home – a friendship which eventually led to the pair having sex two to three times a week.  That is – until small town gossip made its way to the police department last October.

Fernando Rodriguez

“I knew that we were caught. I got a phone call from this detective guy saying that he wanted to talk to me.”

Canning Script

Within moments, a plan was hatched to head for the border.

Rodriquez Attorney Amy Peck

“They went as far and as fast as they could.”

Canning Script

During the 14-hundred mile drive to Tijuana, Mexico, he passed the time by watching Disney movies in the car, but says Peterson warned him not to use his cellphone, based on what she'd seen on tv.

Rodriguez Attorney Amy Peck

“she watched ' csi ' and knew that the federal authorities could track cell phones.”

Canning Script

And her tv watching would have paid off – only: Rodriguez made a call home while Peterson was out, and the fbi traced his call to a mall in Mexicali. Peterson was arrested on child abuse charges.

Fernando Rodriguez

“She was crying.”

Andrea Canning

“What was she saying?”

Fernando Rodriguez

“That she loved me.”

Andrea Canning:

“What did you say back to her when she was crying?”

Fernando Rodriguez

“That i loved her, too.”

Canning Script

His mother – who didn't want to be identified because she's also an illegal immigrant – said, through a translator: it broke her heart.

Rodriquez Mother

“i just hope that no mother goes through what I went through. Nobody deserves to go through this.”

Canning Script

But Peterson's attorney, James Martin Davis, who acknowledges his client made a life-changing mistake, says Rodriguez is also to blame – something he addressed on the “Star Jones” show.

Star Jones

“How does a child consent to go with a grown woman to go have sex?”

James Martin Davis 

“Well, I resent the term: child. You're baby-fying this kid! this kid is a latino, machismo teenager!”

James Martin Davis In ABC Interview

“He pretty much was trying to court her. He told her how to dress and, you know, told her not to wear short skirts and not to wear makeup.”

Canning Script

Davis calls the number of teacher-student affairs in this country an epidemic, with so many cases – like Debra Lafave, who had sex with a 14-year-old student, and Mary Kay Latourneau, who had an affair with her 12-year-old student.  They wed and had two children.

Letourneau in 2007 ABC Interview

I'm not really one of those persons that says: ' what's supposed to be the norm.' I mean, I can see what's supposed to be the norm and I recognize it.”

Canning Script

Martin says he knows its wrong, but believes: in many cases, its consensual and should be treated accordingly.

Andrea Canning:

“How can a 12-year old boy not be a victim?”

James Martin Davis

“Because, you know, kids are sexually active and more sexually aware. There's no person more sexually active than a teenage male!”

Amy Peck

“Its not normal for a 26-year-old to have sex with a 12-year old. Its pedophilia – plain and simple.”

Canning Script

And, still – with everything Rodriguez has been through, he says he still cares for Peterson.

Fernando Rodriguez

“yeah, i would like to see her again.”