37-year-old North Carolina Spanish teacher charged with raping 14-year-old boy who was one of her students

A Spanish teacher from North Carolina is accused of raping a 14-year-old student.

Heydi Monroy, 37, was arrested Tuesday and charged with rape and other crimes following an investigation at Wellcome Middle School in Greenville.

A school security officer reportedly launched an investigation after another employee reported the incident.

According to court documents obtained by WITN, the crimes occurred on April 5.

The Pitt County Schools spokesman said Monroy is no longer employed at the middle school.

Monroy has been working at the school since August 2022.

She has been held without bail since Wednesday.

This comes after dozens of female teachers were arrested across the country this year for sex crimes against students – while the apparent number of “cougars in the classroom” continues to grow.

A long list of teachers allegedly accused of sexual relations with young people across the country is dominating the headlines.

DailyMail.com has found that 25 female teachers have been arrested in 16 states in the last 12 months alone. And there are fears that this is just the tip of the iceberg, as there appears to be no central data collection to track this disturbing trend.

In April, married teacher Jessica Sawicki (37) from New Jersey was arrested after police found her half-naked in the back seat of a teenager’s car at a wildlife center. The mother of two children is said to have admitted to police that she and the student had “unprotected” sex at least five times.

In Nebraska, 45-year-old Erin Ward was arrested after she was caught naked with a teenager in the back seat of a car. The substitute teacher is married to a Department of Defense official and was quickly arrested by police at the scene.

Many of the teachers accused last year are married and one was even named Teacher of the Year.

The teachers lure their students before and during physical confrontations with sexually charged texts, nude photos and videos, police say.

According to the nonprofit National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, between 2017 and 2022, at least 1,895 teachers had their licensure actions taken by state boards of education because of allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate relationships that may not have been sexual in nature.

This number is an underestimate because many states do not provide reasons for suspending or revoking a teacher’s teaching license.