School employee sent 4,000 texts, including nudes, to student, police say
A school paraprofessional faces lewd and lascivious battery charges, accused of sending thousands of text messages to a student that include nude photos and sexual videos.
Lauren Angelica King, 32, of Fort Myers, is charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a victim between the ages of 12 and 16.
King remained listed Thursday afternoon as an instructional support staff member at Royal Palm Exceptional Center, 3050 Indian St., in Fort Myers. The school is a special education center, which is designed to meet the specific needs of students with different abilities.
Rob Spicker, spokesperson for the Lee County School District, said roughly K-12 100 students are enrolled at Royal Palm Exceptional Center.
Fort Myers police say they were alerted Sunday to a possible sexual battery between a female paraprofessional and a student.
Police said reports indicate King was actively having a sexual relationship with a student. The victim told police that paraprofessional King had requested the victim’s phone number and began texting sexual messages, to include nude photographs and videos of her performing sexual acts on herself.
During the course of a month, police said, King exchanged more than 4,000 text messages with the victim, which resulted in King meeting the student outside school hours, where she sexually battered the victim.
Police say detectives reviewed the evidence to include the text messages exchanged between King and the victim and determined there was probable cause to charge King.
On Wednesday, detectives were granted granted an arrest warrant for King.
Authorities say they located King on Thursday. The U.S. Marshals Regional Task Force, along with police, arrested her. She remained at the Lee County Jail on Thursday afternoon without bond set.
"The School District of Lee County does not tolerate the kind of alleged behavior," Rob Spicker, spokesperson for the Lee County School District, wrote in a statement. "The employee involved was immediately removed from the school when the allegations were reported pending the outcome of an investigation."
Police potential victims or anyone with information contact them at 239-321-7700.
King is next due in court April 8 for her arraignment.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Fort Myers school employee charged with alleged student relationship
