Lake Cormorant, MS -
FAST FACTS:
Dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Lake Cormorant, MS 11/17/2009) The investigation into the latest Mississippi teacher to face criminal charges is widening.
DeSoto Sheriff's Deputies arrested 23-year-old subsititue teacher Joey Johnson of Horn Lake Monday afternoon.
He's charged with two counts of sexual battery and remains in the DeSoto County Jail at this hour.
Johnson was a substitute teacher at Lake Cormorant High School which remains under construction, and for now, shares a building with the Middle School.
That's nearly 11-hundred students under one roof, and a substitute teacher who was starting to get a reputation for getting way too friendly with a number of female students.
"I think it is very very inappropriate." said Horn Lake mother Kimberly Holmes as she learned of the second teacher to go to jail in a week for relationships with students.
"There is no reason that a grown person should have any involvement of a sexual nature with a child." an angry Holmes stated.
Less than one week after Southaven Police arrested 22 year old Tyler Bigham for having sex with a student, DeSoto Sheriff's Deputies arrested 23 year old Joey Johnson for the same thing.
"I think some of the people who are in these positions are taking advantage of young people, I do." said DeSoto Sheriff Bill Rasco.
All the School District will say about Johnson is that he's an employee of the firm Kelly Services which specializes in providing temporary employees for various companies.
Kelley services is the contractor of record to provide substute teachers for all DeSoto County schools, but authoritative sources tell us not all schools use Kelly, preferring to get their own substitutes.
Those who know Johnson call him a standout athlete at Horn Lake High school on the Basketball and Football teams, but few we talked to remember him very well, or at all.
On his "facebook" page, Johnson calls himself father of a one year old son, and a "Coach", though we're told he only kept statistics for the football team on an unpaid basis.
Others say he spent a lot of time hanging round the High School gym, in the same school building incidentally where law enforcement sources confirm Johnson's mother works as assistant principal.
Though none of the incidents alleged were said to have happened on campus, the Sheriff believes the schools could have been more vigilant. "This is a serious situation to me. If we can't protect our kids, we are in bad trouble."
And while many agree, others say the teenagers themselves bear a measure of responsibility. "You had a crush on a teacher, you told your girlfriend, you didn't tell a teacher, you didn't act on it." said Holmes.
I'm told from sources close to the situation that these two incidents, coming in such quick succession, will likely prompt changes in school policy as it relates to the use of social media, and contact with students of any age.
And it's not just a DeSoto problem. Just last week, Judge Henry Lackey sentenced a Red Banks teacher to two years in prison, two years house arrest and 5 years probation for touching a child for lustful purposes.
Chris Mirante was a music teacher at Marshall Adacemy in Holly Springs.
- Johnson talks to investigators
- No known criminal record
- Likely to bring changes in school policy
Dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Lake Cormorant, MS 11/17/2009) The investigation into the latest Mississippi teacher to face criminal charges is widening.
DeSoto Sheriff's Deputies arrested 23-year-old subsititue teacher Joey Johnson of Horn Lake Monday afternoon.
He's charged with two counts of sexual battery and remains in the DeSoto County Jail at this hour.
Johnson was a substitute teacher at Lake Cormorant High School which remains under construction, and for now, shares a building with the Middle School.
That's nearly 11-hundred students under one roof, and a substitute teacher who was starting to get a reputation for getting way too friendly with a number of female students.
"I think it is very very inappropriate." said Horn Lake mother Kimberly Holmes as she learned of the second teacher to go to jail in a week for relationships with students.
"There is no reason that a grown person should have any involvement of a sexual nature with a child." an angry Holmes stated.
Less than one week after Southaven Police arrested 22 year old Tyler Bigham for having sex with a student, DeSoto Sheriff's Deputies arrested 23 year old Joey Johnson for the same thing.
"I think some of the people who are in these positions are taking advantage of young people, I do." said DeSoto Sheriff Bill Rasco.
All the School District will say about Johnson is that he's an employee of the firm Kelly Services which specializes in providing temporary employees for various companies.
Kelley services is the contractor of record to provide substute teachers for all DeSoto County schools, but authoritative sources tell us not all schools use Kelly, preferring to get their own substitutes.
Those who know Johnson call him a standout athlete at Horn Lake High school on the Basketball and Football teams, but few we talked to remember him very well, or at all.
On his "facebook" page, Johnson calls himself father of a one year old son, and a "Coach", though we're told he only kept statistics for the football team on an unpaid basis.
Others say he spent a lot of time hanging round the High School gym, in the same school building incidentally where law enforcement sources confirm Johnson's mother works as assistant principal.
Though none of the incidents alleged were said to have happened on campus, the Sheriff believes the schools could have been more vigilant. "This is a serious situation to me. If we can't protect our kids, we are in bad trouble."
And while many agree, others say the teenagers themselves bear a measure of responsibility. "You had a crush on a teacher, you told your girlfriend, you didn't tell a teacher, you didn't act on it." said Holmes.
I'm told from sources close to the situation that these two incidents, coming in such quick succession, will likely prompt changes in school policy as it relates to the use of social media, and contact with students of any age.
And it's not just a DeSoto problem. Just last week, Judge Henry Lackey sentenced a Red Banks teacher to two years in prison, two years house arrest and 5 years probation for touching a child for lustful purposes.
Chris Mirante was a music teacher at Marshall Adacemy in Holly Springs.
