A Texas high school student teacher who admitted to having sex with a teen boy she taught told cops she saw him “as a little brother,” authorities said.
Darian Christine Rogers, 22, has been charged with second-degree felony improper relationship between an educator and a student, arrest records show.
She first met the boy at a grocery store where the pair worked at the time, before she became a student teacher at Rouse High School in Leander, a suburb north of Austin, FOX 7 reports.
Rogers, who has been working at the high school since January this year, was reported to authorities in April by a student who said she had “personal knowledge” of a teacher being involved in a sexual relationship with a minor, court paperwork seen by the local outlet states.
The student also provided a voicemail from a woman — identified as Rogers by Williamson County Sheriff’s Office — in which she admitted to sending explicit photos to a 17-year-old male.
Her alleged victim initially denied the illicit relationship to police until he was confronted with messages detectives found on his phone between him and Rogers discussing the Plan B contraceptive pill, FOX 7 reported.
Rogers denied having sex with the boy in her police interview and described their relationship as that of a “big sister and little brother,” according to the affidavit.
She then admitted to having sex with the student “one time” in his truck in a parking lot near the H-E-B grocery store where they both worked after she was confronted with the text evidence, the affidavit states.
Rogers warned the student to avoid “inappropriate comments” in front of school staff as she was interviewing for a position there, the affidavit states.
A video of Rogers taking the Plan B pill and a screenshot of the receipt were also found on her phone by detectives.
Another text thread between Rogers and a friend described a previous sexual relationship between her and a different child who was 17 and a student in the Leander Independent School District at the time.
The school’s principal sent a letter to the families of students on Friday following Rogers’ arrest.
“The individual was not a Leander ISD or Rouse High School employee and was immediately removed from campus once the district was made aware of the situation,” the letter from Rouse High School principal Vincent Hawkins and seen by FOX 7 reads.
“Any accusations of misconduct did not happen on our campus, during school hours, or at any school-sponsored event,” the letter continues.
Rogers was booked into Williamson County Jail on Friday and released the following day on a $20,000 bond.
She is next due in court on June 4 for a pre-indictment docket call, arrest records show.
