At least 64 NC education employees arrested in 2023
Only 7 arrested this year were for crime that did not have a sexual component
As schools head towards Christmas break, there have been at least 64 arrests of education employees in North Carolina between Jan. 1 and Dec. 17.
Only 7 of those arrests were for crimes that did not have a sexual component involving a student or minor.
15 of the 64 occurred since the start of the 2023-24 school year which began in late August.
For the same arrest period beginning Jan. 1, there were two convictions; Jason Matthew Hensley and Almando Kilpatrick Brown.
Similarly, for arrests since Jan. 1 of this year, there were two cases where charges were either dismissed; Maria Amanda Heyliger and Geoff Larry Harte.
Here are some overall and year-specific stats for cases I have tracked or reported on since 2016, which comes to a total of 366 arrests, 155 convictions, as well as 61 of the 366 having to register as sex offenders.
Not all of the arrests are classroom teachers. Some have been bus drivers, custodial staff, and even principals or assistant principals.
One can see by a glance that the arrest numbers dropped significantly in 2020. This is likely due to the fact schools were closed and access to students was limited. The pandemic also closed or slowed court case processing, which has resulted in delayed acquittals or convictions.
* Note: Sex offender registrations are recorded under the arrest year but those registrations can & often occur in years following the arrest. For example, an individual who was arrested in 2021 was not convicted and registered as a sex offender until 2023. Additionally, the revocation of a license can depend on the conclusion of a court case that results in a conviction.
The majority of arrests since 2016, 342, were public school teachers, including charter schools which are deemed public schools in North Carolina. In 2023, 61 of the 64 were public school teachers.
Note about these data sets:
Due to the fact K-12 school districts and law enforcement in North Carolina are not required to publicly report the arrest of an education employee as well as some individuals never being arrested or facing charges, these statistics are likely underreporting the true count of crimes against students. A report commissioned by the U.S. Dept. of Justice that was published in 2018 estimated that one in ten students will experience sexual assault by a school employee during their K-12 career.
For details on these cases and others dating back to 2016, visit the Quiet Epidemic archives.
More To The Story
New legislation passed this year raises the penalties for certain sex crimes committed against students.
Session Law 2023-128 raises the penalties for taking indecent liberties with a student or for sexual activity with a student from a Class I (3-12 months in prison) to a Class G felony (8-31 months in prison).
This law took effect on Dec. 1, and was an agency bill out of the Department of Public Instruction; House Bill 142, titled Protect Our Students Act.
Aside from raising the penalties on sex crimes, the bill also makes it a Class I felony for non-reporting of crimes or misconduct towards students by education officials in the state’s school districts.
Under the new law, forfeiture of retirement benefits for school employees can occur for "conduct directly related to the office or employment".
Additionally, the law directs the NC Center for Safer Schools, housed under the NC Dept. of Public Instruction, to create an informational video on child abuse, neglect, and grooming. Public schools will be required to show the video to students in grades 6-12 at the onset of each school year.
Here are some resources for the public on this topic:
Heading into 2024, I am deciding whether or not to continue reporting each case or whether I will just track arrests statistically. The topic has taken a toll on me both mentally and in personal time spent running down each case.
For those wondering why I track these arrests, it goes back around a decade when I learned that the son of a friend of mine had been sexually assaulted by a male school employee for the better part of two years. The abuse, which included violent instances of rape, began when the boy was 12 and had just entered middle school.
As I dug into that case, I became aware that sexual abuse in K-12 schools was happening with the same regularity as the sex abuse cases committed by clergy which became such high-profile stories.
What’s insidious about K-12 sex abuse is that it has often been covered up by school and district administrators, with the offending teacher or employee being allowed to resign and move on to another school or district undeterred. This practice has been known as “pass the trash.”
North Carolina legislators took action in 2017 to stem the “pass the trash” practice by requiring districts to notify the State Board of Education if an employee resigns without giving a 30-day notice or if that resignation is linked to criminal charges or an arrest. Based on inquiries I have made, some districts are oblivious to that law change, however, I found a handful that appear to be ignoring it.
More needs to be done to protect our kids and to fully end practices like passing the trash.
North Carolina (and every state) needs a law requiring timely public notification of these kinds of arrests by both school districts and law enforcement.
For North Carolinians making a New Year’s resolution, contacting your legislative representatives on this topic would be a good one to make.
As 2023 draws to a close, if you have found my work useful, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.