A kindergarten teacher accused of the unthinkable

Tania Kraft was one of the most trusted people in the tiny town of Chickamauga Georgia a beloved beautiful kindergarten teacher with two small kids of her own parents here felt great comfort sending their precious children to the safety of her class Tania would protect them were so they thumped the last day of school actually the first day of summer came and we were going to the swimming pool and two detectives knocked on my door Tania Kraft had about twenty years experience under her belt but nothing could have prepared her for what those two detectives told her they started throwing accusations that I had molested three young girls and at the same time my children were at home a friend of theirs was at the house and I was just trying to wrap my mind around what they were saying in the accusation as they were throwing at me the cops left and somehow Tania kept her wits about her she'd called a lawyer who phoned investigators but the cops were playing hardball and when they called me back they said that I was not cooperating they were gonna arrest me I was refusing to speak to them and I said that is absolutely not true my attorney has tried to contact you and they said we don't work for your attorney so I guess we're gonna come arrest you and I said I will talk to you but I will not talk to you that an attorney present sum it up for me what were the next two weeks like for you the next two weeks were hope disbelief hell I went from thinking there is no way that I could get arrested if I hadn't done anything wrong a lot of Prayer I had friends that came over and we actually had a meeting where people sat down and prayed and we cried and we talked I agreed to take a polygraph with the police station so you wanted to take a poly I wanted to speak to the detectives I wanted to take a polygraph and they would not speak to me they refused to speak to me with my attorney present they so I did not get the chance to speak to them and then when the polygraph was scheduled my attorney called me and said they already have a warrant for your arrest they were not intending on you taking the polygraph and there are cameras here where they can have you on film being a when you show up to take the polygraph actually when my attorney called me he said do not come they have a warrant for your arrest and they've kind of set up he said a perp walk Tonya turned herself in she was arrested photographed and printed she also got her first look at the arrest warrant you were accused of molesting three young girls yes correct there were two girls that were friends of my daughters and one was my own daughter your own daughter when you saw was your own daughter named in this document yes that was the first time I had seen her name involved in anything with this Tonya made bail and knew she needed much more legal help you're always reluctant in a case like this you want to make sure you're comfortable with the case and believe your own client obviously first before you can devote any effort to it when there's one it's hard when there's two it's harder when there's three children that are saying it your natural presumption is well they're like everybody else you knew this was going to be tough absolutely and then I met Tonya and it didn't take more than about 15 minutes I would say to convince me that this was completely a witch-hunt Tonya and her legal team got to work the Georges came as a result of complaints from two parents and Tonya's ex-husband there was bad blood there and a relationship with one of the complaining moms was rather strained first of all it's very rare to hear a female defendant it is accused of this type of crime secondly obviously the fact that it was her own daughters that was part of the accusation made it more salacious and then I think thirdly the who I called the spearhead of this sandra is from a very prominent family in this town and I think everyone latched onto that it became what it became and then there was the repeated questioning of the children they want to please the person they're talking to and the more times you say are you sure nothing happened the more they began to think well maybe the answer they're looking for is that something he did particularly with the younger children like this Tonya's child actually never said anything that we ever could equate to that should have been a crime or a charge it took nearly a year but Tonya was indicted and hit with a stunner 22 counts of child molestation reading the indictments make me nauseated the things that they claimed in there are just disgusting and anybody that did do those things should go to prison for the rest of their life but I did not and to see my name and to see my daughter's name and these other children's names was very very upsetting but on the other hand it told us what we needed to do how we needed to do it and how we needed to get there in Chickamauga Georgia a respected kindergarten teacher has been charged with the ugliest of crimes you were accused of molesting three young girls yes correct there were two girls that were friends of my daughter's and one was my own daughter her arrest and the charges shocked the small town in northern Georgia it's exactly that it's a small town and everyone sort of knows what's going on and so this story was the big story long before the national press called it and this story was 22 charges against crafts from the day Tania turned herself in to authorities it was ugly they took my clothes off and they had me bend over and they had gloves on and as they did that I was crying so hard I was shaking and the lady even apologized and said I have to do this and I said I know and I was always very respectful but it was the most humiliating thing and horrible thing that ever happened facing a maximum of 400 years behind bars Tania's trial began the horrid charges spoken to the jury for the first time the prosecutor constructed his case on testimony from cops experts and parents of the alleged victims and she said she touched her bottom and her loosely which is what she calls her private area but something else was revealed the ugly relationship between Tania and Sandra land sander was something of a power player in town and her child was one of the alleged victims she said that Miss Tania head and then stuff to her and I mean she was like hysterical at that point she was it I was I was in total shock cry watch daily reached out to Sandra Lam and got no response but Tonya crafts lawyer thought it smelled like a setup some people would say could it really be the fact that this woman was ticked off enough to go after Tanya and I asked that question myself I think it's a combination I think it's it was malice that caused her to repeatedly question it and understand this her daughter said nothing had happened originally well Sandra she seems like she's got an anger issue I don't know why she wouldn't let nobody push her around she was real real aggressive to the defense especially Sandra lamb stood out to the jury then the kids took the stand how did that affect you seeing those children be marched in there one by one - hurry up I don't I don't like kids being mistreated and it seemed like that - what it was juror Luther Lawson was flat-out disturbed by how the prosecution treated the children the way they were questioned on the stand it just seemed like they were trying to drag something out of them what do you think broke your heart the most with having those kids on the stand the interview with Tania's kid [Music] when he broke down and she told him that all she did was put medicine on my bottom I've done that to my grandkid I wanted her not to have to be there but I had no choice to go through with the only way for her not to be put on the stand because I didn't put her there was to just give up and not have to trial and go to prison for something I didn't do then in a dramatic decision Tania decided to take the stand herself I was one of the ones the night before she took the stand who who told her she didn't have to do it that I felt at that point we had made our case I told them that I absolutely was gonna take the stand for two reasons one is I'm just a normal person and those jurors are normal people and if I was them I would want to hear me say I did not do it I'm here because I have been falsely accused don't you know that you have a right to sit there and make them prove every element of their case yes don't you know that they're supposed to not have to hear from you yes prosecutors tried to paint an ugly picture are you not disputing the fact that there was in your relationship with Joel some simulated lesbian or girl-on-girl pornography you got plastered you were drunk I had too much to drink yes breasts you just commented on Ben being bit correct there were moments of what I would call uncomfortable questions not because she had done anything wrong but just because they wanted to take every incident from her life and make it into something that it wasn't and she she stood there she faced it she answered she never back down you wear all underwear right yes I do Tania never lost her cool and so you know when we've heard all this about what a busy schedule you've had around us a question when did you fit in molesting children well you didn't really have to make a lot of room in the schedule indeed of that did you I didn't molest any children and I didn't have a video camera unfortunately on me 24/7 juror Lawson paid close attention she got on there and she seemed like she was up a pretty honest person after five weeks the jury got the case and Tania just wasn't sure things would go her way I went to a local hotel I went next door I ordered lasagna I just remember that for whatever reason I went in i watch TV cuz I felt like that would be the last time I could choose what I was watching on TV I ate I showered I slipped into bed that I felt like was gonna be the most normal bed that I would ever have again two years after she was arrested and charged with 22 counts of molesting children Tania crafts steals herself for the verdict the judge handed it to the individual in that particular courthouse that read read the verdicts and he started with count number one number one not guilty 21 more times she heard those words number 20 not know whenever they read count 22 not guilty I belt passed out yeah number 22 not guilty I just my body just with everything that I had been working on and had been hoping and praying for and my attorney one of my attorneys Scott was next to me and actually you know grabbed me and and then we left the courtroom I felt the same shock and disbelief that I felt when they showed up at my door approximately two years before it was just I couldn't believe it because I had prepared myself for the worst tanya was free but there was collateral damage everybody was just overjoyed and I was overjoyed to a point but without my children that could have locked me up forever it had been two long years since she had seen her own daughter the same daughter who had testified against her what was that reunion like for you it was bittersweet because I knew that my daughter had been told things that weren't true I knew that there was a light in her that needed to be kind of rekindled but it wasn't gonna be done in one sitting and it was supervised so there was a therapist involved it wasn't it was a very therapeutic setting I just sat on the couch and I cried when I saw her and she brought me a tissue but she set kind of across the room and we just talked and I just asked about school and you know just as normal of a conversation as we could have and I knew that I wanted to go up and hug her and pick her up and run out of the room and take her home and never let go but one I knew that that couldn't happen in two I had to let her come to me and let her feel safe and comfortable and let her heal in the way she needed to Tania didn't go back to teaching instead she wrote a book about her personal nightmare called accused the former kindergarten teacher actually went back to school herself law school ironically she now works for the prosecutor's office in Chattanooga Tennessee but the most important thing in Tonya crafts life today is what it's always been her children and we're happy to report they are back with their mom and we do want to stress that we actually reached out to the prosecutor's office here sandra lamb and the father of the other alleged victim all have declined to comment or have simply not returned our calls well here now with me to talk about both sides of the law on a very difficult case like this one is former prosecutor Lonnie Combs and also criminal defense lawyer Mike Koval oopsie guys thank you so much for joining us today thanks for having us I talked about it being a difficult case Lonnie it most certainly is and it's had devastating consequences for so many people involved the question I want to ask you how did they even pursue this case how did it make it to trial well remember at the time they filed the charges what evidence they have they had not one little girl not two little girls but three little girls come forward and say that they had been touched inappropriately then we have law enforcement the detectives who talk to them who believed it we have child advocates who work with them who believe what they said so it wasn't just one or two you know disgruntled parents it was all of these different people who heard the information and believed that there was enough evidence there to go forward with the case do you agree with that mark look not only was Tonya craft found not guilty of these charges she was exonerated and the allegations against her were found to be baseless and false so no the charges should never have been filed so when Lonnie says we have three accusers these three little girls making these allegations she needs to also remember that each of those three little girls went first asked about whether they had been inappropriately touched all said no as Mike knows when you're working with children this young you're talking about four five six years old that's not even like an eight nine ten year old you're talking about very young children and when people are having to interview them and get very difficult information out sometimes it takes some time for them to build up rapport and be able to talk to them but in the court of public opinion people who have looked closely at the case I don't think anyone challenges a conclusion including you Lhari I don't think anyone challenges the conclusion that tania craft did not commit these crimes I don't now though just just to briefly interrupt when you break this down when you step back and you look at what happened here the question becomes how do they be held to account for making these false allegations is it civilly that they that you have to look at some sort of avenue of recourse here tania craft filed a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit in federal court naming virtually everyone involved in the investigation as rightfully she should have done this is a lesson that we should have learned in famous cases out of curd County out of Washington and the McMartin case and we don't learn the lesson and so when Lani refers to these three girls and they're simply telling these stories the lesson we need to learn Lonnie is that children are easily suggestible they should not be so immediately believed because they are so easily suggested there are famous studies about how easy it is to lead a child from the truth right into a lot Loni Coons mock equivalency thank you so much for your insight today thank you thank you

Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 7,302,130

Rating: 4.8707705 out of 5

Keywords: Tonya Craft, Crime Watch Daily, True Crime Daily

Id: jSL2BNEKIvM

Length: 18min 29sec (1109 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 08 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Just_WoW_Things]

As a man I bawled my eyes out. She lost so much for nothing. Even though she was found not guilty 2 years of her life were stolen. She didn't get to raise her own daughter with motherly love.

The legal system needs to punish these sick false accusations that happen so often in the modern world.

[u/5th_Law_of_Robotics]

Sounds like she was the victim of toxic femininity and rape hysteria.

MRAs are fighting for protections for the accused, remedies for the falsely accused, and respect for innocent until proven guilty and a fair trial.

[u/AbsolvedMadman]

Poor woman :'(

[u/YOUREABOT]

She is incorrect about interviewing children. Use time and patience, yes, however not repeating questions, ever.