Another teacher charged with sexually assaulting a minor, as national trend continues

An Arizona teacher has been arrested for hiding and sexually assaulting a runaway teen, in the latest example of a frightening nationwide phenomenon of child abuse by educators.

Robyn Rogers, 44, was arrested July 11 and charged with three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, false reporting to law enforcement, hindering prosecution and possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

Rogers’ reportedly taught life skills and child development for a public charter school, Telesis Preparatory Academy in Lake Havasu, Arizona, where she also coached cheerleading. After her arrest, the school released a statement saying she is no longer employed.

The 17-year-old boy she allegedly hid and with whom she was “sexually involved” was reportedly missing since Valentine’s Day.

Investigators say they were monitoring Rogers’ house after following months of leads on the boy. At approximately 3 p.m. on July 11, officers came to her home to ask about the boy’s whereabouts when they saw him run from the back of the home. A brief foot chase ensued before he was taken into custody.

After further investigation, Rogers was arrested and charged. She is currently being held on a $30,000 bond.

The case is just the latest in a devastatingly long list of despicable acts perpetrated on children by educators.

As reported last year by The Lion, Chicago Public Schools investigated over 600 cases of “adult on student” misconduct in 2022 alone. That was in addition to almost 300 cases it investigated the year before.

Among the 600 reports were 81 sexual touching cases, 35 grooming cases, 33 sexual abuse cases, 26 cases involving sexual acts, 25 “in-person sexual comments” cases and 14 “sexual electronic communications.”

The Lion has also reported on several other disturbing cases, including:

• An “award-winning Kansas teacher” charged with sexually assaulting multiple students; 

• A Michigan teacher charged with “blind folding and sexually assaulting” students during their vision tests; 

• A North Carolina elementary teacher charged with 40 counts of sexual assault; 

• A fourth-grade Tennessee teacher with “23 charges related to her alleged abuse of five boys aged 12 to 17”; 

• A California teacher who “allegedly molested eight girls as young as 6”; 

• Two Georgia school employees “accused of having sex with students in a Georgia school district in 2021 and 2022.” 

In fact, the size and scope of the issue is so great it’s even attracted the attention of the federal government.

In June 2022, the United States Department of Education (DOE) released a report titled “Study of State Policies to Prohibit Aiding and Abetting Sexual Misconduct in Schools.”

In particular, the DOE examined state laws to determine what restrictions were in place to prevent an offender from “quietly leaving their jobs with the potential to violate children in a different school district.”

It concluded that fewer than 12 states had laws which “require job candidates to divulge information about investigations or disciplinary action for a sexual offense or abuse.”

The last DOE report studying the magnitude of the issue of educator sexual misconduct on students was in 2004. At that time, it found 10% of students were targeted “sometime during their school career.”