Two Educators Accused Of Grooming One Student

A school is supposed to be where kids get safer, not where adults get access. Today we’re unpacking a case that’s exploding online for all the worst reasons: an Arizona student allegedly groomed by a teacher who used gifts, money, special treatment, and constant texting to blur boundaries that should never move. We talk through the reporting around Haley Beck, the claims of thousands of messages, and why “almost 18” is not a moral loophole when the adult is the authority figure who controls grades, trust, and consequences.

Contact us at: whatweloseintheshadows@gmail.com



Background music by Michael Shuller Music 

Transcript

Welcome And A Quick Catch-Up

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Good morning and welcome to What We Lose in the Shadows.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

A father-daughter true crime podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

My name is Jamison Keys.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I'm Carolyn.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hey Carolyn, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:20

I'm so good. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Very good. Well, if we were not excited about the cold a while back, uh that's which we weren't. Which we weren't. Uh we are um probably happier now. Um question mark. I am. Okay. It's a little warm for me, but I I can I can deal with this. So I love it. Yeah. So also just for your information, if you're listening to us, um, you might hear panting in the background. And that's him. It's not me. It's not me. Uh it is a little warm. And uh our our little our little French bulldog companion, Jill, is sitting on the couch and she's a little warm. So panting. If you do hear that, please forgive us. Um, Caroline has forbidden me from banishing her from the area.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

So absolutely. She's allowed to come and be a fan.

D4VD Case Update And Arrest

SPEAKER_01 1:07

For sure. She is. She she's a great fan of uh true crime, and her mother is uh probably our number one fan. There we go. So yeah. So did you see, did you see yesterday some big developments in uh a large case that I've been kind of looking at for a long time and uh considered doing uh one of our uh episodes on this? Um did you see anything about David?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Uh you mean D4 I V I D? Is that how you suppose? I don't even know how to do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

D4 V D. D4 V D.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yes. Yes, yes. Why don't you go ahead and tell him?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Well, so um I've been tracking this for a while and you know it it started out and it's really a bizarre case. And in fact, we'll do another uh we'll do another episode on that very, very soon. But um it it got to a point, and just to give you in a nutshell, uh a gentleman that was uh recording artist, I guess, kind of he developed a he kind of on the on the web, like he was singing on the internet or on YouTube and was discovered that way.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

He had a um a really popular song, name of which is escaping me. But if you look him up, like it was very popular on TikTok. It was used in like a trend, and you know, so basically he thought he was all that, right? Except not so much.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, and and and there's uh there's definitely they he had a Tesla. He was living in Los Angeles, and uh they found a body in his Tesla, and his his the the trunk of his car, which in a Tesla, of course, is in the front. Um a frunk is what they call a front. A frunk, it's a frunk, yes. So uh not to be glib, but the this young lady was um uh they found her body and so on. So, anyways, it's been going on for a very long time for months and months, and it really wasn't progressing and and that sort of thing. But just on Friday, um just uh did before yesterday, there there was a big development. I guess he is now under arrest. But more on that later.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

I'm happy that that SOB was arrested by well, let's see.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Innocent until proven guilty, but no, it looks bad.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

She was found in his frunk.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Right, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

The front trunk.

Trigger Warnings And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_01 3:10

The front trunk.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Trigger warnings for today are grooming, sexual assault, pedophilia, and inappropriate student-teacher relationship.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Right, right. So care, you know, as a parent, uh, you bring this like precious little baby into the world, and you know, you nurture and you protect uh the little baby, you know, and she's becomes or he becomes the most important person in your life. And then you entrust uh a child to a school system and teachers who you hope will, you know, nurture them also and educate them and care for them. And the vast majority, 99.9% of teachers, that's exactly what happens. But there are exceptions. And let's talk about a case that's blowing up on social media right now. As you know, uh in this day and age, it's unfortunately not uncommon to hear a story about a teacher uh and a student having uh questionable relationships, I would say. I remember back when you were young, Caroline, there was a there was a case that blew up all over the country. And it was a lady by the name of Mary Kay uh Laterno, uh, who was charged with a second-degree rape of a child back in 1997. Um, you know, this is before internet, before social media, before memes and TikTok and that kind of thing. And it created a media firestorm. It was the first case I really remember, and like I said, that was long before uh a lot of that social media and so on and thing we things we have today. But, you know, it's important to remember that it's a very, very few incidents happen uh with teachers and and students. Uh but of those, that small percentage, like 96% of all inappropriate relationships regarding teachers making advances on students uh involve a male teacher taking advantage of a student, both you know, male or female.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I believe that.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

But in this case, uh the 27-year-old teacher is currently under an investigation after she started grooming a student, uh police say back in December of 2024 for his 18th birthday. And according to the Pure Unified School District, uh, in a statement, uh they have uh put charges against her. Now she's um she's someone, I guess her brother is an influencer. Maybe he was on Baywatch or something like that, or maybe he is on Baywatch, I don't know. But Baywatch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Is that still good on TV? I maybe okay I think so. I know that he was an influencer for sure, or like some kind of uh m famous, microfamous. I don't know. But yes, he was well known, I guess you should say.

Haley Beck Allegations And Texts

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Right, right. And and this uh this young lady's name is uh Haley Beck. And during that time, uh the man young man in question was a sophomore and then a junior uh during those years, and he was enrolled in her psychology and sociology courses.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

But that's a lot to unpack there.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

True enough, right? Oh my gosh. Uh, but that's according to what detectives say. But according to the nearly 200-page police report, Beck, who was hired to work at the school in 2020, bought the students gifts, food, drugs, alcohol, and paid him more than$600 and gave him access to her car. Oh, cool. Now, the the drugs and the alcohol obviously are problematic. The access to the car is questionable.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

They uh the access to the car is problematic as well, but so is the food. You what you don't buy, no, it has to be approved because of allergies and just like so many different things, like working in the school system um a few days a week now. Like I've seen if giving food to kids is just a horrible idea.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Right, because you're unaware of their their dietary restrictions and allergies. That's true. It's just weird. It is just kind of weird.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

I understand, like if they have like pizza party or whatever, but it goes, it's it gets approval and the parents are aware. Like, I don't know, like giving food to a student with their parents unaware. That's just weird.

A Second Teacher Enters The Case

SPEAKER_01 7:03

It is kind of weird. And she also allegedly helped improve his grades uh and his attendance record and gave him special treatment in the classroom, investigators claim. Ugh. She went on to call herself the boy's sugar mama. Oh even wrote messages to him, and it it felt like straight prostitution, some reports say. For more than six weeks, Beck and the students sent more than 4,000 text messages that spoke of illegal sexual activity. So disturbing. Uh no formal charges were initially charged against Beck, but while their alleged student-teacher relationship was underway, uh, another educator, Angela Brlacca, uh recorded naked videos of herself that ended up on the student's phone per the report. Braka is a 47-year-old married woman who was also heard saying the student's name in the clip, the document stated. The victim's grandmother soon found about the disturbing video on the phone last July and called police and promptly an investigation started. Sexual misconduct claims uh involving Beck soon came to light after the probe was launched. And the victim's mother telling police that she was aware of her son having sex with a teacher named Halle Beck. What? That's what she told police. Uh the teenager and his family didn't want to uh cooperate initially with detectives, fearing that it would affect his college uh athletic scholarship uh sex. Meanwhile, Beck appears to have known that Burlaca was allegedly involved with the same student. The same student. Same student, both these teachers were involved with this young man.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Even though our situation is still not right, at least uh that we're getting closer, she said. Uh she wrote a minor text to him that included, I don't like being compared to Mrs. B. Another telling note to uh to the student was Beck was located by police during the search of her apartment uh in a message that read, For this relationship being extremely wrong, I feel like we've really made the most out of it, adding, There is truly no other student that I'd want to spend time and do this with.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

That is so disturbing.

Grooming, Power, And Double Standards

SPEAKER_01 9:22

According to the records of Centennial High School, principal Scott Hollebaugh, he gave police Beck's name after the investigation into Burlaga began. He told cops that he had received multiple complaints from students and staff about uh Beck, records revealed. After the probe started against Burlaca, she voluntarily surrendered her Arizona teaching certificate. Beck did not. That's bold. So yeah, this is this is unbelievable. Not one teacher, but two teachers. It's just so weird. It's so weird. And, you know, I mean, the one lady had been teaching for 25 years that just surrendered her teaching license.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

I don't understand. Like, I don't know. I guess like working around the kids and you know, through different um at different schools and different age groups, like they are so young, even in high school, they are so young. And it is so obvious that like how how young they are. Like, and so people think like, you know, some people have said in the past mainly, I think this has really been um a change in perspective has happened over the past like two, three decades. But like before people would say, like, oh, like it's okay, like, you know, like they're so close to 18. It isn't. It isn't. They're really young. Like when you see them and you see them interact with each other, they're so immature. And that's okay because they are young children. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, I don't understand how an adult can see a child and think, wow, they're so cute. It's just so weird.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

I I I don't I don't understand that at all. I mean, I I know that I I have acquaintances and so on that that notice when you young girls are, you know, coming into their their you know more mature forms and so on. And I just think it's creepy. I mean it is creepy. People will say something and I'm like, dude, your daughter is like that age. You're you gotta see, you gotta stop. Oh you gotta stop. It's just it's so creepy.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

It is creepy, and it's like, I don't know, that's just I hate to say it, but like women should just know better. Like, I I can't believe, and they do, obviously, from those text messages, they do know what they're doing is wrong. And I think the men that do it also know what they're doing is wrong. But it's just it's so shocking when this happens and it's like a woman perpetrator because presumably as a 27 and 45-year-old woman-ish, um, you've been creeped on in your life, especially when you were in that age group of like a late teen. Typically that's when you start getting men creeping and like calling you names on the street and like cat calling, and just like, you know, you start getting the icky feeling. And so just to turn around and do that to like a another young student is just very weird to me. It's just how do you do that?

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Well, and for the longest time, uh, there was a real double standard when it came to uh boys and girls. Um, I mean, obviously, you and it should be very, very severe in terms of a male teacher and a younger girl, whether that girl is five or seventeen or whatever. I mean, there's obvious reasons because men are so much bigger and stronger, right? Now, and there used to be this double standard about, you know, you'd hear people say, Well, uh, he really enjoyed those classes. No, no, no. He was molested too.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Yes. Okay. That's important.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

He he was bigger and stronger than the woman. I I I've seen pictures of them and so. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, he's a he he's he's an athlete. Okay, he's a bigger, stronger person. He could have, you know, stopped.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

But his he was mentally like groomed.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Well, he was groomed by her over a period of time. And he he didn't, he, he, you know, he didn't want to lose his scholarship. He's an athlete. He didn't want to use lose his college scholarship. He didn't want to fail her classes or have her react to him or be, you know, give retribution to him for doing that. So even though, yes, could he have stopped it from happening? Absolutely. He could have done that. But um, but mentally, even though you're physically larger, you feel like that person is an authority figure.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

And they are, and they are.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

And they can leverage that just as effectively as someone who can physically overpower you. Right. Yes. So yeah, and it's it's an awful, awful thing. Um and so uh like the Pure School District uh and the governing board, you know, take the allegations involved with students' safety extremely seriously, as spokesperson said. Uh and obviously that's true.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

At at uh Well, if they had so many complaints already, it's just kind of weird. Like why why were like why would why were the authorities not called after one, two complaints? You know, it's just weird.

District Response And Potential Charges

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Right, right. And this, you know, the the chances of having not one but two adult female teachers, it it you you would almost go, ah, that's a you know, the numbers-wise, that just doesn't seem like that's a possibility, right? But uh in this case it was. Um, at the time the concerns were reported, the information available did not meet the legal threshold for reasonable suspicion of abuse, uh, nor is there corroborating evidence uh of such abuse at that time, was their initial determination. Uh, the district responded in accordance with uh the governing body and that policy, uh applicable law and so on, that established procedures for following and reviewing uh the matter. Uh, once they found that it was and they had corroborating evidence, then appropriate actions were taken to address the situation. Um due to the pending litigation, though, the district is unable to provide additional details. Um, so you know, like people are committed to you know maintaining a safe and supportive and responsive environment for all students and staff. But during the governing uh boarding meeting on March 26th, the Peoria School District unanimously voted to fire her. Oh, yeah. She has until April 8th, which has come and gone, I guess, uh, to request a hearing at the district to fight determination. Uh a mother spoke out about uh the district's decision in a meeting stating that we send our kids to school 10 months a year, five days a week, seven hours a day. So as a parent, I'm glad to see that these pedophiles like Haley Beck are being held accountable as much as possible. Yes. So uh at the time uh that I uh looked at the stories, five uh charges were not currently filed. She did lose her job, but um, they're also pending, I guess, including uh Burlanka. Police recommended that the Maricopa County District Attorney's Office charge Beck with uh inducing prostitution and Blanca with aggravated luring of a minor into sexual exploitation. That is wild. It is wild. And, you know, now of course uh Beck's lawyer, you know, said that um, you know, with respect to the criminal justice procedure, you know, she's entitled to due process, and it's it's her constitutional right to have everything investigated, uh, which uh he feels confident uh that when she you know reveals everything that she'll be found innocent. But to be honest, I mean, you know, yes, absolutely, you know, Haley Back is entitled to due process. And I'm confident uh when they do complete the uh the informational and the background check and everything that it will go you know away to make sure that uh she, if true, and this is all alleged, of course, but um Is it?

SPEAKER_00 17:06

I've seen the messages.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Yeah, there were 4,000 of them. I've seen some of them, and they're so drastically inappropriate.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

But very inappropriate.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Yeah, but I mean, uh yeah, I know. I know what the lawyers are saying. Yeah, she's entitled to do process and she is.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

They they have to say that as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

They're sure, for sure. And just like the the the case that we were talking about earlier with David, uh the singer and so on, and and the dead body in his um Tesla. I I was just astonished, you know, for uh six months this has been going on, and the medical examiner wouldn't release it, wouldn't say that she was murdered and so on. But it was so stupid.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

It was like you can't die of natural causes inside a frunk.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Not only that, but she was not in one whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Oh yes, oh yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

We're not sure it was murder. What are you saying? So I understand why the you know the justicision has to be uh the justice system has to be very, very, you know, careful. I get it. And especially when you're trying to build a case and make sure that you don't, you know, uh step over any loopholes or thread loopholes to let the person go.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

But um, you know, you would think in the case of students and teachers and so on, that uh you prosecute that at at a very, very fast, very, very efficient, very, you know, rate. Because if not so much. If a person will do that to one student, how many students will they do that to?

The Internet Narrative And Accountability

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Oh, yeah, no, definitely. But uh look, it's just I don't know. It's it's so crazy. And like there's so much online about this case, like about her um there it it's a really interesting case because the online per per like perspective on it is that the the student was very weird about it and like was very mean to her, and that she was like, Okay, sure, whatever. So it's just a really weird case in the sense that like like she was desperate as an adult woman for a young teenage boy, and he was using her, but she was grooming him. It's just a very weird case, and I just I don't know. I just I have never really seen anything like it, like the way that it's like been talked about online too.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

What and and she really set herself up for some you know, some serious charges because not only did she groom him, not only did she lure him into sex, not only did she introduce this other woman and and this whole scenario, but in addition to that, she paid him for things. I mean, it's it's just it's like it's it's so cringe worthy that you're like, oh my God. Yes. And and it, you know, I mean, honestly, you know, he's he's a very nice looking young man. She's I haven't even seen him. She's a very nice looking uh teacher. I I just don't understand how uh an adult woman or a teacher I don't know either comes to the point where saying, you know what?

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I don't get it. But I'm saying, like, I work in the school system sometimes and I see these children, and I'm just like, how is this possible? They literally look so young.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Right.

unknown 20:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

And the way that they behave is so immature that it's just like I don't I don't get it. I and I'm happy I don't get it because that's just scary.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

So at at any rate, I mean, and just some of her posts um where she's well not only just inappropriate, but she's she's acting so juvenile around these yeah kids. I mean, I look you want to have a good relationship with your students, professional, completely professional, but you want them to want to come to class. You want them to think you're a good teacher. You want them to really can't wait for the next class. But you can't be their buddy.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

You can't hang out with them, you know, and you certainly can't go to the extreme, you know, places that these two teachers have gone to. So anyway, so we shall wait to see. She has been let go from her job. We do very much expect for her to be charged uh with something in the very near future. But you know, it's it's an important case to to follow. And you know, I I just I keep hoping that when they when they sentence these folks and when they're you know they they do time for their reactions that it doesn't seem to the next person comes along in another state and it's a very similar situation and so on. I just I don't understand why people don't learn from these cases and so on. And I so I think more people should listen to true crime because it's like, my God, that's a terrible idea. I shouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

It's I don't know. It's just like I I it's hard to wrap your brain around if you can do if you can are like, yeah, I could do that. Like it's just like our brains work really differently. So

SPEAKER_01 22:00

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

I don't know if they would benefit from the true crime. Although maybe they would, and maybe that would stop you know, you make a good point. Okay.

Upcoming Cases And Reporting Resources

SPEAKER_01 22:08

So on on some upcoming coming episodes, we'll be doing some uh different programs we're gonna be doing um one next week about um, like I said, David and and all that entails. Um, we're also gonna be doing something that Caroline is gonna have to explain to me and it's called Alpine Divorce. Alpine divorce.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yes, there's a specific case that I want to touch on um where a man injured tried to to throw his wife off a cliff and like leave her for dead while they were hiking. And it's called Alpine Divorce when like a man abandons his wife in the wilderness. In the wilderness. Although I guess it could go the other way around, but I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

That is creepy.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

It is very scary.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

So, Caroline, if someone does have uh fears of um something happening to a young person, what's the best thing to do?

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Reach out to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That's one option. And the phone number is 800-843-5678. And that's a 24-hour hotline. Another option is reaching out to local law enforcement or um another nonprofit, but the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a great resource for anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

And if it happens at a school and you happen to be a teenager or or you know, someone that's in school or a teacher. Reach out to a teacher, reach out to a principal.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Uh reach out to your parents. Don't be afraid of this. This is not your fault.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Never your fault. Follow the show on whatever streaming site you're listening on.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

And remember, all of the source material will be available in the show notes.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

And follow us on Instagram at what we lose in the shadows and let us know if you want to hear a specific case.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Or if you just want to give us some feedback.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday. Bye.