Another teacher accused of sexual abuse of a minor – nationwide trend continues

An Arizona teacher has been arrested for concealing and sexually abusing a runaway girl, the latest example of a frightening, nationwide phenomenon of child abuse by educators.

Robyn Rogers, 44, was arrested on July 11 and charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a minor, making false statements to police, obstruction of justice and possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

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

The 17-year-old boy she allegedly hid and had “sexual relations” with had been missing since Valentine’s Day.

Investigators say they had been monitoring Rogers’ home after months of following up on leads about the boy. On July 11, around 3 p.m., officers went to their home to ask about the boy’s whereabouts when they saw him running out the back door of the house. A short foot chase ensued before he was taken into custody.

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

The case is just the latest in a shockingly long list of heinous acts committed by educators against children.

As The Lion reported last year, Chicago Public Schools investigated over 600 cases of misconduct “by adults toward students” in 2022 alone. This was in addition to the nearly 300 cases investigated the year before.

Among the 600 reports were 81 cases of sexual touching, 35 cases of sexual contact, 33 cases of sexual abuse, 26 cases of sexual acts, 25 cases of “personal sexual comments” and 14 cases of “sexual electronic communication”.

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

• An “award-winning Kansas teacher” is accused of sexually abusing multiple students;

• A Michigan teacher is accused of blindfolding and sexually assaulting students during vision tests.

• A North Carolina elementary school teacher is accused of 40 counts of sexual assault;

• A fourth-grader from Tennessee who is accused of “23 charges related to the alleged abuse of five boys, ages 12 to 17”;

• A California teacher who “allegedly sexually molested eight girls as young as six years old”;

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

In fact, the scale and scope of the problem are so great that it has even attracted the attention of the federal government.

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

Specifically, the DOE examined state laws to determine what restrictions exist to prevent an offender from “quietly leaving his or her place of employment despite potentially abusing children in another school district.”

The result was that fewer than twelve states have laws that “require applicants to disclose information about investigations or disciplinary actions related to sexual offenses or abuse.”

The last DOE report examining the extent of teacher sexual misconduct toward students was in 2004. At that time, it found that 10 percent of students had been victims of sexual assault “at some point during their school career.”