WASHINGTON — Charles County officials arrested a high school teacher they say sexually abused a student over several months between 2016 and 2017.
On Monday, Charles County Sheriff’s officers arrested 40-year-old LaToya Niccole Parker, who was a teacher at St. Charles High School. A Charles County Grand Jury indicted her on charges of sexual abuse of a minor, displaying sexual material to a minor and solicitation of a minor.
Parker, a family and consumer science teacher at the school since 2015, allegedly shared inappropriate photographs and electronic messages with a student. Officials say the incidents happened between fall 2016 and March 2017, and that the allegations were first reported in May 2017.
The sealed indictment was made public Tuesday during a bond hearing.
Charles County Public Schools removed Parker from her teaching duties and directed that she have no contact with students, Superintendent Kimberly Hill said in a news release Tuesday.
“Charles County Public Schools’ general practice is to immediately remove any employee accused of inappropriate behavior from having contact with students during the investigation of charges,” Hill said in the release.
Parker was released from custody on a $20,000 bond. The conditions of her release include no contact with minors and electronic monitoring.
In July, Hill said “student safety is job 1” after former Charles County instructional assistant Carlos Bell had been indicted on child pornography and assault charges.
Bell is accused of assaulting dozens of students, who ranged in age from 11 to 17, and of recording some of those assaults on his cellphone over a nearly two-year period between May 2015 and June 2017. Some of the assaults took place on school grounds, according to an indictment.
Bell was indicted last month on 206 charges in the sex abuse of 42 victims. On Tuesday, Bell pleaded not guilty to federal child porn charges.
