A Henderson, Texas teacher was arrested on December 11th on charges of possession of child pornography. She was arrested after an investigation conducted by the Henderson Police Department.
Kathryn Laraine Prior, 35, was an agriculture teacher at Henderson ISD. She was arrested and booked into the Rusk County Jail after they received a report of her having an inappropriate relationship with a student. During the investigation, investigators found additional evidence about her.
According to an arrest affidavit, police stated that Kathryn knowingly and willingly engaged in sexual conduct with an unnamed student. She was emailing a male student on matters unrelated to school on December 9th.
During an interview at the Child Advocacy Center, the student told the interviewer that Prior “rubbed” his legs and genitals on the outside of his clothes when she drove him home from school the day prior.
The student said he also touched Prior’s breasts in the car. When police asked Prior about the allegations, she admitted to inappropriately touching the boy while she was driving.
Police say the student’s mother also went through her son’s Instagram account on his phone on the night of Monday, December 9th, and found sexually explicit messages and photos from Prior in the app. The student also sent sexually explicit photos of himself to Prior.
The affidavit states Prior also confessed to having nude photos of the student on her phone, which was confiscated by police. She told police she had been exchanging messages with the student for about two weeks before she was arrested.
Prior was booked into the Rusk County Jail on Tuesday, December 10, and charged with indecency with a child by sexual contact and improper relationship between educator and student. Both are second-degree felonies punishable by 2-20 years in prison.
She was also charged with possession of child pornography. She allegedly had more than 10, but fewer than 50, images on her cell phone, making the offense a third-degree felony punishable by 2-10 years in prison.
Prior remains in the Rusk County Jail on $150,000 bond.
