A North Carolina Spanish teacher was arrested and charged for raping her student. Heydi Monroy, 37, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with statutory rape and other offenses following an investigation by Wellcome Middle School officials in Greenville. It is unclear under what circumstances Monroy was arrested.
However, it was alleged that she had sex with the 14-year-old student. It comes as dozens of female teachers have been arrested this year across the nation for sex crimes involving students, contributing to what appears to be a growing trend of “cougars in the classroom.” Headlines across the country have highlighted a series of cases involving female teachers allegedly involved with minors.
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In the case of Monroy, a school resource officer launched an investigation after a report from another staff member. According to court documents reviewed by WITN, the incidents occurred on April 5.
Monroy had been employed at the school since August 2022. As of Wednesday, she is being held without bond.
According to the Daily Mail, 25 female teachers have been arrested in 16 states in the past 12 months alone. This is believed to be just the beginning, as there is no centralized data collection to monitor this troubling trend.
Married New Jersey teacher Jessica Sawicki, 37, was taken into custody in April when police found her partially nude in the back seat of a teenager’s vehicle at a wildlife center. The mother-of-two is said to have told authorities that she had at least five instances of “unprotected” sex with the pupil.
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Erin Ward, 45, was taken into custody in Nebraska when it was found that she was nude in the backseat with a teenage boy. Police soon arrested the substitute teacher at the scene. She is the wife of a Department of Defense officer.
Several of the female teachers who have been accused of crimes in the past year are married, and one of them even won the teacher of the year award.
Police report that the teachers are using sexually-charged texts, nude photos, and videos to entice students, both before and during physical encounters.
According to the nonprofit National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, between 2017 and 2022, at least 1,895 teachers faced adverse action against their credentials by state education licensing boards. This was due to sexual misconduct and inappropriate relationships, which may not always involve sexual activity.
This figure is likely an underestimation because many states do not disclose the reasons why a teacher’s credentials were suspended or revoked.
