A now-former Azle High School girls’ sports coach has been arrested again for alleged sex crimes against an underage female student who has since graduated.
Carlos Alberto Font Santiago, 31, was first arrested in April and charged with improper relationship between educator and student, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison. He was booked into the Tarrant County Jail on April 18 and released on a $7,500 bond.
Font Santiago was arrested again on December 12 on a charge of sexual assault of a child, also a second-degree felony. He was released the next day on a $15,000 bond.
District officials stated following his April arrest that Font Santiago had worked for Azle ISD for seven years as a Spanish teacher and a coach for various girls’ sports, including basketball, volleyball, and softball.
State records show Font Santiago’s teaching certificate is under review by the Texas Education Agency.
In August, his alleged victim filed a federal lawsuit against Font Santiago, Azle ISD, Superintendent Todd Smith, and former Azle High School Athletic Director Rebecca Spurlock, who retired in January 2024 after eight years with the district.
The plaintiff, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe to protect her identity, was a 16-year-old student athlete at time of the sexual assaults, which allegedly occurred in 2021 and 2022. Font Santiago was an assistant girls’ basketball coach.
According to the lawsuit, Font Santiago quickly began “grooming” Doe for a sexual relationship—manipulating her to build trust, gain access, and lead her to believe they had a “special connection.”
Doe alleges the relationship escalated to a sexual one once she added Font Santiago as a connection on Snapchat—even though his acceptance of her request violated school policy against teachers communicating with students on social media. The two exchanged daily messages via various electronic formats. Many were sexual in nature.
In addition to illicit online communications, Doe alleges that throughout her sophomore year in 2021-22, she was allowed to spend time with Font Santiago in his classroom at various times during the school day, regardless of his or her class schedule.
She received almost-daily hall passes from Font Santiago, even though he was not her teacher; frequently spent lunch periods in his classroom; and was often excused from her classes to spend time in the coach’s Spanish classes.
Doe also began meeting with Font Santiago “at least three times per week in his empty classroom during seventh period to engage in sexual activity. Font Santiago locked the classroom door and he covered the window in the entry door.”
The sexual activity that Font Santiago engaged in with Doe during her regular seventh period visits to his classroom included him kissing her, fondling her breasts, digitally penetrating her vagina, and having her masturbate him.
Doe’s math teacher allegedly excused the student each time for purported restroom breaks that lasted about 30 minutes. Doe states that her excessive absences went unchecked and unreported.
According to the complaint, Font Santiago told Doe he wanted to end their sexual relationship after his first child was born in Spring of 2022, yet he continued abusing her.
The complaint alleges that around that time, other coaches raised concerns about Font Santiago’s behavior around female students and cautioned members of the girls’ basketball team to stay in their assigned classrooms.
Then-Azle High School Athletic Director Spurlock allegedly met with both Font Santiago and the head coach but apparently never reported concerns about Font Santiago to the principal, human resources, security, or any other district official.
Spurlock allowed Font Santiago to continue coaching girls’ basketball for the remainder of the 2022 season, “throughout which time he continued to sexually assault Doe.”
“Spurlock had actual notice that Font Santiago posed a substantial risk of abusing and harassing Doe and other female students on the basis of sex but failed to act,” the complaint asserts. “Instead, Spurlock swept the matter under the rug and allowed Font Santiago to continue coaching Doe’s JV basketball team and other girls’ athletics at AHS.”
Doe and Font Santiago allegedly did not meet in person throughout the Summer of 2022 but exchanged sexual messages and photos, including photos of Font Santiago’s naked genitalia.
The sexual abuse “virtually ceased in August 2022 when Kyndall Font, Font Santiago’s spouse, was employed as an Athletic Trainer at AHS,” according to the complaint. Yet the student and coach continued exchanging sexual messages into Spring of 2023.
Doe stopped communicating with Font Santiago when she developed a romantic relationship with a young man.
She graduated in May 2024.
On April 17, 2025, another female Azle High School student reported to the principal that Font Santiago had sent inappropriate messages to her via SportsYou, an application used by coaches to communicate with team members.
That’s when Doe first disclosed to her parents that the coach had sexually abused her and filed a police report against Font Santiago with the Azle Police Department.
Doe’s parents helped her to understand that what she had thought was her special relationship with Font Santiago had not been a genuine romantic relationship, but that he had actually groomed her for his sexual pleasure. Upon learning of the current student’s report against Font Santiago, Doe realized that she had not been unique and special to him, as he had led her to believe, but that he is a perverted child predator.
Doe’s lawsuit alleges that Spurlock and Azle ISD failed to act on or even investigate reported risks, demonstrating “deliberate indifference” to Font Santiago’s known acts of inappropriate behavior.
Azle ISD, Smith, and Spurlock have filed motions to dismiss the suit.
The district claims that Doe “did not allege facts to establish that an appropriate person had knowledge of the sexual abuse or a substantial risk thereof,” asserting Spurlock’s position as the Athletic Director did not make her an “appropriate person” to act on reports of a coach’s alleged sexual abuse of a student athlete.
Spurlock is claiming qualified immunity from liability and noted that while a defendant’s assertion of immunity is pending, courts cannot allow any discovery to take place.
Doe is due to respond to the motions by December 20.
Chief District Judge Reed O’Connor has stayed all other pre-trial proceedings until he rules on Spurlock’s qualified immunity defenses. In similar cases against school district officials, resolving immunity issues has taken years.
Font Santiago is among hundreds of Texas teachers and school employees accused of sex crimes in just the past few years.
At least a dozen lawsuits are pending against school districts and their employees over alleged sexual abuse of students.
