A North Carolina Spanish teacher has been accused of raping a 14-year-old student.
Heydi Monroy, 37, was arrested Tuesday and charged with statutory rape and other crimes following an investigation by officials at Wellcome High School in Greenville.
A school resource officer reportedly launched an investigation following a report from another worker. According to court documents seen by WITNThe crimes took place on April 5.
The Pitt County Schools Public Information Officer said Monroy, who is originally from Colombia, is no longer an employee of the high school.
Spanish teacher Heydi Monroy, 37, has been accused of raping a 14-year-old student
Monroy had worked at the school since August 2022.
She has been held without bail since Wednesday.
It comes as dozens of teachers have been arrested across the country this year for sex crimes involving students, as the apparent number of “cougars in the classroom” continues to grow.
A long list of teachers allegedly involved with young people across the country dominates the headlines.
DailyMail.com found that 25 teachers had been arrested in 16 states in the last 12 months alone, and there are fears that this is simply the tip of the iceberg, as there appears to be no centralized data collection to track this disturbing trend.
Monroy, originally from Colombia, had worked at the school since August 2022
The Pitt County Schools Public Information Officer said Monroy is no longer employed by Wellcome Middle School in Greenville.
In April, Jessica Sawicki, a 37-year-old married teacher from New Jersey, was arrested after police found her half-naked in the back seat of a teenager’s car at a wildlife center. The mother of two allegedly admitted to police that she and the student had “unprotected” sex at least five times.
In Nebraska, Erin Ward, 45, was arrested after being caught naked in the back seat with a teenager. The substitute teacher is married to a Department of Defense official and police quickly arrested her at the scene.
Many of the teachers charged last year are married and one was even named teacher of the year.
Teachers are luring students with sexually charged texts, nude photographs and videos before and during physical encounters, police say.
Between 2017 and 2022, at least 1,895 teachers have had their credentials taken against them by state education licensing boards for sexual misconduct and inappropriate relationships that may not be sexual in nature, according to the nonprofit National Association of Teachers. State Directors of Teacher Training and Certification.
That figure is an underestimate since many states do not provide the reason why a teacher’s credentials were suspended or revoked.