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Jacqueline Nicole Muller, a 26-year-old teacher from Salem Lutheran School in Glendale, Calif., has been charged with sexual abuse for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old student while the eighth grader was on a class trip in Washington, D.C. The incident allegedly occurred at the hotel students and teachers were staying late at night.
“Salem Lutheran Church and School takes the safety of our students very seriously and will always do everything in our power to protect them,” Ali Smyser, president of Salem Lutheran Church, said in a statement, via the New York Post. “It is not our intention to comment further on this matter while it is being adjudicated.”
From the report:
The teen’s parents also learned from other chaperones that their son had been alone with Muller for about an hour one night during the trip. The boy later told his father about the secret meetings, WRC-TV reports.
Five days after the alleged encounter, the teen’s parents met with school officials, including interim principal Pamela Perry, who later reported the allegations to child protective services. Muller subsequently apologized in a letter to Perry, according to court documents.
Muller is just the latest teacher to be charged for an inappropriate relationship with a teenager. Over the course of just a few months, educators across the country were arrested for entering into an inappropriate relationship with their students, Tennessee teacher Janet Smothers, LaToya Parker, Florida teacher Caroline Lawson, 26-year-old Allyson Moran and Katherine Ross Ridenhour were all arrested on similar charges. A woman named Kayla Sprinkles was arrested in North Carolina for similar sexual crimes.
The list goes on to include 22-year-old Oklahoma science teacher Hunter Day, 28-year-old teacher Megan Kotarski, 23-year-old history teacher Michelle Schiffer, 29-year-old Alyssia Marie Reddy, special education teacher Jordan Ondish and 28-year-old Samantha Fitzpatrick have all been allegedly carrying on inappropriate relationships with their students.
