Sydnee Graf, a 36-year-old fifth-grade math teacher at Smyrna Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky, was arrested on December 15, 2025, after allegedly engaging in explicit sexual conversations with a male student under the age of 12 during a virtual Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) day. The investigation began when Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) police alerted Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) detectives to the potential exploitation of the juvenile.

The National Center to Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct, & Exploitation recently released a groundbreaking report, titled Understanding and Preventing Sexual Misconduct and Abuse by K–12 School Employees (October 2025), which reveals the scope and prevalence of educator sexual misconduct in America’s schools.

An 18-year-old senior at Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown, Texas, named Aundre Lebron Demond Matthews, was arrested and charged with murder in the stabbing death of 16-year-old sophomore Andrew Meismer. The incident stemmed from a dispute over a $21 THC vape pen that Matthews accused Meismer of stealing.

A 26-year-old elementary school teacher in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, Madison Bergmann, was sentenced to six years in prison followed by six years of extended supervision after pleading guilty to one count of child enticement and two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. The victim was an 11-year-old fifth-grade boy at St. Croix Falls Elementary School. Court documents revealed that Bergmann exchanged approximately 35,000 text messages with the child, including discussions about "making out" and other inappropriate conduct, as well as allegations of kissing, touching, and sexual contact during school hours.

In Buncombe County, North Carolina, 53-year-old Samuel Jason Ingle, a former coach and "Dean of Spiritual Formation" at the private Asheville Christian Academy, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to misdemeanor sexual battery charges involving sexual misconduct with an 18-year-old female student. The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office investigated reports of inappropriate conduct starting in early 2024, leading to Ingle's arrests on felony charges (including sex acts with a student) before the case resolved with reduced misdemeanors.

A former New Jersey high school teacher, Michael Canning, is facing a civil lawsuit filed by former student who alleges years of sexual abuse during her time as a student at Red Bank Regional High School. The lawsuit, filed on December 15 in Monmouth County Superior Court, names Canning, the Red Bank Regional Board of Education, the school district, and several of Canning's family members as defendants.

An Oklahoma City metro teacher is under investigation after claims of abuse toward a student were reported to police.

Body cam footage from the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office shows deputies confronting and arresting Roderick Kohl, a Special Education teacher at Council Grove Elementary in the Western Heights School District.

Leetwain Darrell Tate, a 48-year-old former school bus driver for Sugar Creek Charter School in Charlotte, North Carolina, who also goes by "Ms. Sharon," was arrested on September 30, 2025, following an investigation by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Crimes Against Children Unit. Tate faces multiple charges, including two counts of statutory rape of a child under 15, six counts of indecent liberties with a minor, and one count of statutory sex offense. Authorities allege that Tate lured at least four minors, aged 14 and 15, to his residence where the assaults occurred, with one victim reportedly claiming Tate offered money in exchange for sex, according to an arrest affidavit.

A former Tupelo Public Schools cafeteria worker, Lyndsay Hamer, 30, of Coalgate, Oklahoma, has been arrested on multiple child sexual abuse charges following an investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI). Authorities allege that Hamer sent sexually explicit photos and videos to a student. The Coal County Sheriff’s Office initiated the investigation in April before requesting assistance from OSBI.

Christopher Ward, a 37-year-old first-grade teacher at Hunters Point Elementary School in Queens, New York City, was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography after allegedly sharing hundreds of explicit photos and videos of minors over at least the past year. While standing before his young students daily, Ward is accused of storing and distributing material depicting prepubescent children and those under 12 years old.

Sandy Carazas-Pinez, a 36-year-old teacher from Bethel, Connecticut, was sentenced to 25 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old special needs student at the Biondi School in Yonkers, New York.

Evergreen High School student Desmond Holly allegedly entered his school armed with a revolver and opened fire on classmates, critically injuring two students before turning the gun on himself. He later died at the hospital, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a complaint of a possible sex crime at Richwood High School in Richwood, Louisiana. Geoterrius Spivey, a substitute teacher admitted to the sexual abuse. An arrest warrant was issued, and he was booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center on two counts of second-degree rape, sexual battery, and simple battery.

Addam Timothy LeClair, a 43-year-old former math teacher and soccer coach at Tradition Preparatory High School in Port St. Lucie, Florida, was arrested by the Martin County Sheriff's Office for allegedly soliciting a romantic relationship with his 16-year-old student.

A private Christian school teacher in Virginia has been arrested amid allegations of child sex crimes. Katelin Campbell, an English teacher at CH Friend School, was taken into custody for consensual sexual contact with a minor who is at least 15 years old.

Holly Condra, an elementary school teacher at Griffith Elementary School in Sequatchie County, Tennessee has been arrested after physically assaulting a 9-year-old special education student.

Skyler William Ahrens faces charges of sexual exploitation of a minor – cause to engage in act, grooming, and three counts of telephone dissemination of obscene material to minor. Prior to his arrest and resignation, Ahrens was as a gym teacher and track and field coach at Lake Mills Public Schools.

Samuel Melton, a former choir teacher at Choctaw High School in the Choctaw-Nicoma Park School District, was sentenced to 42 years—17 years in prison followed by 25 years of probation—after pleading guilty to 15 counts of sex crimes against a student. The charges included four counts of first-degree rape by instrumentation, three counts of second-degree rape, four counts of sexual battery, and four counts of forcible oral sodomy. The abusive relationship began when the victim was 16 years old, and she has since graduated from the school.

Fort Collins Police have arrested former Poudre School District counselor Cassandra Poncelow, 40, for allegedly maintaining an inappropriate relationship with a student and sexually assaulting the victim multiple times over several years. According to Fort Collins Police Services (FCPS), the department began investigating after receiving a report in July alleging that Poncelow, who worked in the district from 2007 to 2024, had engaged in a sexual relationship with a student while employed by the district. The assaults reportedly took place off campus, and the victim was a minor at the time but is now an adult.

A substitute teacher who worked for Decatur Public Schools has pleaded guilty to predatory criminal sexual assault, admitting in court to having sexual relations with a sixth-grade student.

Alley Bardfield, 34, was arrested in April of last year, when Mt. Zion Police were informed by a mother that Bardfield had an inappropriate relationship with her 11-year-old son. The boy was assigned to Bardfield’s class at Hope Academy in Decatur. The substitute teacher invited the boy to multiple “play dates” at her home in 2023 and then twice in March 2024, during which time the pair had two sexual encounters.