A female teacher in Texas has been arrested for having sex with a young boy.
Molly Colleen Spears, 35, had sex intercourse with the male pupil at Barbers Hill High School on June 12, 2023, according to an arrest warrant seen by DailyMail.com.
She was charged this week with having an improper relationship with a student – a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison under Texas law.
Spears, of Baytown, located just across Tabs Bay from Houston, ‘engaged in sexual contact and sexual intercourse’ with the boy, according to her warrant.
She is also accused of arranging to meet the alleged victim by texting him, the document states. His age has not been disclosed.
Spears was indicted by a Chambers County grand jury on Saturday and arrested on Tuesday, when her attorney said she turned herself in to the local prison.
She was released from the jailhouse after submitting a $50,000 bond.
Spears was previously listed as a high school language and arts teacher. It’s unclear which grade she served and whether the alleged victim was in her class.
Molly Colleen Spears (pictured), 35, is accused of having sex with a male pupil at Barbers Hill High School on June 12, 2023, according to an arrest warrant seen by DailyMail.com
Spears was previously listed as a high school language and arts teacher at Barbers Hill High School (pictured), a public school east of Houston, Texas
The accused teacher stared straight ahead while wearing a striped prison-issued shirt in her booking photograph shared by Chamber’s County Sheriff’s Office this week.
Barbers Hill ISD issued a statement about the Spears in June 2023, when she resigned from her post.
‘Molly Spears worked as a high school teacher for Barbers Hill ISD from August 2021 to June 2023. She resigned earlier this month,’ a district spokesperson wrote in an email to NBC affiliate KPRC 2.
‘Per policy, the district will not confirm any internal investigation into any matter.’
Spears’ attorney, Christopher L. Tritico, has said he does not know why the case took so long to go to court, but his client looks forward to challenging the allegation.
‘Ms. Spears was first notified of the charges two days ago and we acted immediately to get the bond set up and in place,’ the defense lawyer said.
‘I cannot speak to why it sat for so dormant for so long. That is a question for the other side of the isle.
‘Ms. Spears looks forward to having an opportunity to confront the allegations and to finally put this matter behind her.’
According to Texas Education Agency records, Spears is currently under investigation for alleged misconduct. That case has not yet reached a conclusion.
Spears was hired by Barbers Hill ISD in 2021. She previously worked for Texas City ISD from 2014 to 2020, and Coldspring ISD from 2012 to 2014.
DailyMail.com has contacted Barbers Hill ISD for an updated comment on their internal investigation.
In the same year Spears resigned, the high school also hit the headlines for suspending a pupil twice over his dreadlocks – an issue which also reared its head with another student back in 2020.
In the same year Spears resigned, the high school also hit the headlines for suspending student Darryl George (pictured) twice over his dreadlocks
Former Barbers Hill pupil DeAndre Arnold, 18, was also banned from attending his own graduation in 2020 over the length of his hair
In September 2023, Darryl George, 18, was sent to an off-campus disciplinary program for 30 days for allegedly breaking the school’s dress code.
Once he returned to class, the school dismissed him again on the same grounds and referred him to an in-school suspension for 13 days.
His mother, Darresha George, slammed the school for alleged discrimination, saying her son’s hairstyle abided by the school’s policy because he wore it tied up.
Barber Hill’s dress code bars male students from having hair longer than their ears or eyebrows or from passing down their collar.
In 2020, Barbers Hill ISD also banned senior DeAndre Arnold, 18, from his own graduation over his long dreadlocked hairstyle.
Activists from Black Lives Matter Houston and the United Urban Alumni Association attended a school board meeting at the time to protest the ‘discriminatory’ policy.
The school said the rule wasn’t about race but the length of Arnold’s hair.
‘There is no dress code policy that prohibits any cornrow or any other method of wearing of the hair,’ officials said at the time.
‘Our policy limits the length. It’s been that way for 30 years.’
The creators of Hair Love, a short animation released in 2019, heard about the case and ended up taking Arnold to the 92nd Oscars to show their support for him.
Arnold was among the star-studded guest list to see them win the award for Best Animated Short Film.
