COLUMBIA, KY - At the end of September, the trial of a Kentucky woman accused of sexually abusing a student at a juvenile detention facility and then soliciting a teenager to kill her husband came to an end.
The woman, 28-year-old Elena Bardin, was arrested in April after police accused the married mother of molesting an incarcerated teen at the Adair Juvenile Detention Center, and then asking the boy to murder her 49-year-old husband. People reported. Bardin was the boy's English teacher at the facility, according to WKYT.
Prosecutors alleged Bardin discussed with the boy her desire to have her husband murdered by him or one of his friends because she wanted out of her marriage, but she didn't want to split the marital assets or share custody of the couple's child.
She was initially charged with three counts of sexual abuse, solicitation of murder, and distribution of obscene material for "letters and explicit material" found in the boy's bedroom. The sexual abuse counts each involved an incident when she touched the minor's genitals, according to court documents.
At her arrest, three additional counts of unlawful transaction with a minor were added to the charges she faced, alleging that she caused the minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
At the end of the trial, the jury found her guilty on three counts — one count of sexual abuse, one count of unlawful transaction with a minor, and distribution of obscene material. The conviction came after a two-day trial, in which both the defendant's estranged husband Michael Bardin and the alleged victim both took the stand to testify for the prosecution.
Bardin declined to testify in her own defense and her attorneys called no witnesses to the stand. Bardin has a sentencing hearing on November 13. The jury recommended that she be sentenced to four years for the sexual abuse charge and 10 years for the unlawful transaction charges, and that the sentences be consecutive. If that is the case, she will be sentenced to a total of 14 years.
Her lawyer has reportedly filed a motion announcing that he will object the verdict at the sentencing hearing and request a new trial or acquittal on all charges. The attorney also claims in that motion that the minor who is accusing his client of these crimes has been inconsistent in his recollection of the alleged incidents.
The other court battle Bardin is facing involves visitation with her five-year-old child after the husband filed for divorce one month after her arrest. That case is ongoing.
The woman, 28-year-old Elena Bardin, was arrested in April after police accused the married mother of molesting an incarcerated teen at the Adair Juvenile Detention Center, and then asking the boy to murder her 49-year-old husband. People reported. Bardin was the boy's English teacher at the facility, according to WKYT.
Prosecutors alleged Bardin discussed with the boy her desire to have her husband murdered by him or one of his friends because she wanted out of her marriage, but she didn't want to split the marital assets or share custody of the couple's child.
She was initially charged with three counts of sexual abuse, solicitation of murder, and distribution of obscene material for "letters and explicit material" found in the boy's bedroom. The sexual abuse counts each involved an incident when she touched the minor's genitals, according to court documents.
At her arrest, three additional counts of unlawful transaction with a minor were added to the charges she faced, alleging that she caused the minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
At the end of the trial, the jury found her guilty on three counts — one count of sexual abuse, one count of unlawful transaction with a minor, and distribution of obscene material. The conviction came after a two-day trial, in which both the defendant's estranged husband Michael Bardin and the alleged victim both took the stand to testify for the prosecution.
Bardin declined to testify in her own defense and her attorneys called no witnesses to the stand. Bardin has a sentencing hearing on November 13. The jury recommended that she be sentenced to four years for the sexual abuse charge and 10 years for the unlawful transaction charges, and that the sentences be consecutive. If that is the case, she will be sentenced to a total of 14 years.
Her lawyer has reportedly filed a motion announcing that he will object the verdict at the sentencing hearing and request a new trial or acquittal on all charges. The attorney also claims in that motion that the minor who is accusing his client of these crimes has been inconsistent in his recollection of the alleged incidents.
The other court battle Bardin is facing involves visitation with her five-year-old child after the husband filed for divorce one month after her arrest. That case is ongoing.
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Comments
2025-10-28T18:07-0400 | Comment by: Dawn
Yet, she's getting off scot-free for trying to hire someone to murder her husband. Yikes.
2025-10-29T18:59-0400 | Comment by: Jon
Since she is a woman, her sentence will be much lower than that of a man convicted of the same offense. Tell me again about how women are so oppressed that they can't get a "fair shake" in the "real world". Had a man been convicted of a similar crime, he would never see the outside world again.