Mom accused of raping, trafficking teenagers. Tennessee cops look for more victims
An anonymous letter slipped into a Tennessee school office led to a woman being charged with 18 counts of aggravated statutory rape against nine high school students.
The McMinn County Sheriff’s Office say there could be even more victims.
A 38-year-old mother from Englewood, Tenn. was indicted Feb. 15 on 23 charges by the county grand jury, McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said in a news conference She was charged with 18 counts of aggravated statutory rape, four counts of human trafficking by patronizing prostitution and one count of solicitation of a minor, according to Guy.
All the charges pertained to sexual encounters with 9 male minors from McMinn Central High School.Two of the victims have since reached adult age. They took place between spring 2020 and the end of 2021, the sheriff said.
Police said they believe that the woman contacted students over social media. They made plans to meet up, where “she traded items for sexual encounters.”
Guy called the case “difficult and shocking, even to seasoned detectives.” Police spent hundreds of hours investigating the case, he said.
The woman was not employed by the school, but had been involved with its booster clubs, police said.
McMinn Central High School was first made aware of the situation after McMinn County Director of Schools Lee Parkison found an anonymous letter left in his office, he said in the conference.
The sheriff’s office began its investigation in December.
Both Guy and Crump encouraged any other victims or their parents to come forward and speak to officials, regardless of whether they are current adults or still minors.
Parkison thanked the anonymous person who left the letter in his office. “Without them, this could still be going on,” he said.
The woman was booked into the McMinn County jail on $100,000 bond, Guy said in the conference. According to WVLT, she was released on bond the evening of Feb. 15.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Mom accused of raping, trafficking teenagers. Tennessee cops look for more victims."
