The epidemic of educator sexual exploitation of students shows no sign of easing as a female school counselor faces “indecent liberties” charges in North Carolina this week and a middle school teacher in Texas was slammed with a 30-year prison sentence for sexually abusing a 13-year-old pupil.
As Breitbart News reported in an exclusive investigation in March, leading experts say what they call “educator sexual misconduct” has become “rampant” in the U.S. in the past two decades, with reports making headlines weekly.
This week a jury sentenced Adriana Rullan to three decades in prison after finding her guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child younger than 14. The sentencing included 10 years for “indecency with a child by sexual contact” and 13 years for “an improper relationship between an educator and a student.”
Rullan, 30, a former teacher at Gonzalez Middle School in Laredo, was also ordered to pay $20,000 in fines.
Some true-crime observers posting on X reacted to the sentencing, one questioning “how many of these horrific headlines do we keep seeing?” and calling for more scrutiny by school districts.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, a 37-year-old married school counselor and mother of three turned herself into police after allegedly taking “indecent liberties” with students, according to news reports.
Lesli Bryant, a counselor at Orange High School located in Hillsborough, a town of about 10,000 residents 20 miles northwest of Durham, is accused of using the Snapchat social media program to communicate with minor students in messages that included nude images and videos.
The counselor resigned last month after being placed on administrative leave.
Misconduct in both cases was partially enabled by what leading researchers say is contributing to the nationwide problem: the use of social media and modern smart phone technology for students and their adult groomers to secretly communicate.
In the Texas Rullan case, the verdict followed a two-day trial during which prosecutors presented testimony from a half dozen witnesses and exhibits that included numerous text messages, photographs and video recordings sent by the perpetrator.
The jury deliberated only two hours before finding Rullan guilty.
During the sentencing phase, the victim, who was 13 at the time of the abuse, told the court “the abuse cost him his friendships, his sense of self and nearly his life,” according to Laredo’s KGNS News.
The victim’s mother also addressed the jury, blaming Rullan, whom she described as manipulative, for her son’s depression and anxiety. She also described the emotional toll the abuse had taken on their family.
It was the parents of the victim that sparked the investigation into the teacher in late 2023 when they contacted United Independent School District authorities after discovering their son’s relationship with his teacher at the middle school.
In the North Carolina case, it has not been reported yet how authorities got wind of the alleged sexual communications between counselor Bryant and the two students.
Bryant turned herself in Thursday and was in court by Thursday afternoon, where she was given a $50,000 bond and ordered to have no contact with witnesses.
She is also not allowed to be on Orange County Schools property. She had already resigned from her position there on June 12. Her next court date is set for July 20.
So far, it is not been revealed whether the counselor had direct sexual conduct with the students.
As Breitbart News reported in its investigation, leading researchers say female perpetrators typically groom their male victims with photos and videos containing explicit sexual imagery, either of themselves or random pornography. With boys, they appeal to their growing sexual interest as they mature.
By contrast, they say, male perpetrators use emotional appeals to groom their female victims, secretly convincing girls they are having a special love-based relationship which then leads to sexual contact.
While it is typically cases with female teachers, coaches, and counselors involved with adolescent boys that make the most headlines, studies show that male educators account for the lion’s share of such cases, though they often remain secret and don’t generate prosecutions.
The disturbing pattern of educator sexual abuse nationwide is occurring in school districts large and small, urban and rural, public and private, secular and parochial.
Causes cited by researchers range from a “culture of permissiveness” to the ability of teachers and students to communicate secretly on the internet and the reluctance of staff to report suspicious behavior for fear of disrupting school harmony.
One leading researcher warned of the rampant problem more than 20 years ago after studying the trend for several decades, including for the Department of Education.
“Think the Catholic Church has a problem?” academic investigator Charol Shakeshaft told the National Review in 2006. “The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.”
Veteran crime writer Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets, which documents one of the worst cases of child sex abuse in U.S. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
