Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office
Marisela Mendoza Winn, a 39-year-old former Texas teacher, has been charged after an unidentified student confessed to his mother he was having a sexual relationship with the teacher.
Winn, who was immediately fired from IDEA McAllen Public Schools, was charged with having an improper relationship with a student.
According to reports, Winn allegedly met the 16-year-old victim when he was a student in her English class. The teen’s mother reported the relationship to authorities after the teen admitted he visited his former teacher’s apartment on numerous occasions to “perform sexual acts.” Police then allegedly found nearly 5,000 pages of texts between Winn and the teen, including a “vulgar message” from Winn.
via CBS 4:
An investigation began on Nov. 22, 2017, when a woman reported to McAllen police that her 16-year-old son—assigned the pseudonym “Fernando” in the criminal complaint—confessed he had a sexual relationship with his former English teacher, according to the criminal complaint. The woman reported that Fernando “also confessed to going to Maricela Mendoza Winn’s apartment multiple times to perform sexual acts,” according to the criminal complaint.
Throughout the course of an investigation, police say they found approximately 5,000 pages of texts between the two, including a vulgar text sent from Winn to Fernando.
IDEA Public Schools released a full statement to CBS 4:
“IDEA Public Schools is committed to ensuring the safety of our students on the road to and through college. The employee in question has been on administrative leave as authorities conducted an investigation, and has since been released from IDEA Public Schools. We are cooperating fully with the investigation, and we have taken all appropriate actions in accordance with the law and network policy. As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment any further. All questions should be directed to Hidalgo County.”
Winn, who is reportedly not cooperating with the police, was released from the Hidalgo County jail on Wednesday, January 16. Police are still investigating.
This is the latest in a string of teacher/student sex scandals over the last couple of years. In November, Tennessee teacher Janet Smothers was arrested. Former nutrition teacher LaToya Parker was also arrested for a relationship with a student. Florida teacher Caroline Lawson was charged with sexual assault. 26-year-old Allyson Moran was also arrested for similar crimes. The 23-year-old high school teacher Katherine Ross Ridenhour was also arrested for an inappropriate relationship.
Furthermore, Hunter Day, 22, was also arrested after a sting operation. Megan Kotarski was also arrested on similar charges. Michelle Schiffer, a 23-year-old history teacher in Texas, was also charged and arrested for allegedly having sex with a teenage student. 29-year-old Alyssia Marie Reddy was arrested in Maryland for her crimes in New Jersey. Samantha Fitzgerland, a 28-year-old, was most recently arrested and charged. Jordan Ondish was arrested for her inappropriate relationship with a 19-year-old, while 28-year-old Samantha Fitzpatrick was arrested on similar charges.
Nicole Marie Andrews was arrested as well. 32-year-old Jessica Langford was arrested and charged with sexual assault-related crimes as well. A teacher from Oregon, Andrea Baber, was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. Robin Dunlap, a teacher in Florida, was arrested for sending illicit photos to a 15-year-old boy in Texas. Teacher and tennis coach Jennifer Olajire-Aro was also charged. 42-year-old Heather Butts of California was arrested on a second-degree felony charge. Nancy Leigh Ann Brann, a former Christian school teacher, was arrested for having sex with a student. Coine Audiat pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in 2016. 23-year-old Darci Lake was arrested for an inappropriate relationship.
Valeria Costadoni was also arrested due to a relationship with her student. 40-year-old Kisha Nuckols was arrested for having sex with a student, too. Hilary Dattilo, a 30-year-old Ohio high school teacher, has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a female student. 30-year-old Missouri teacher Elizabeth Morgan was also arrested on similar charges. Trisha Anderson Rogers, a 47-year-old former student teacher at a North Carolina middle school was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to soliciting a young student for sex.
