Kristin Davenport, a 27-year-old former teacher at Northside High School in Georgia, was arrested and charged on Thursday, April 25 for allegedly having sexual contact with an underage student.
According to reports from the Columbus Police Department, following her April 25 arrest, Davenport was taken to the Muscogee County Jail and charged with sexual assault for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a teenage student.
The investigation into Davenport came following an anonymous tip on Thursday, April 18. Davenport was removed from her position at Northside High School in Columbus, Georgia.
As of Friday, April 26, Davenport remained at the Muscogee County Jail without bond.
In total, Davenport was charged with three counts of sexual assault of a person in custody.
Davenport is just one of many education officials to be arrested and charged for sex-related crimes in recent years.
Since the beginning of 2019 alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida. Additionally, Texas teachers Meredith Null and Edna Longoria were arrested on similar charges.
As for why the number of these incidents has seemingly increased, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.