Two fired Forney educators face up to 20 years in federal prison for a fraudulent scheme that allowed a teacher with a history of classroom misconduct to abuse more special needs students.
A federal grand jury returned a seven-count indictment against former Crosby Elementary Principal Wendy Bailey and special education teacher Michael Raymond Roell, also known as Johnathan Michael, on September 16.
Bailey, 53, and Roell, 45, are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six counts of wire fraud.
Both were arrested earlier this year on state charges—Roell for abusing students in his Crosby Elementary classroom throughout the 2025-26 school year and Bailey for failing to report the abuse.
A federal criminal complaint filed August 14 alleges Bailey helped Roell hide past abuse allegations so the Forney Independent School District would hire the teacher.
The origins of the “pass the trash” scheme date back to 2016, when Roell was accused of physically and sexually abusing male special needs students at Hudson Middle School in Garland ISD.
Roell was arrested and tried for indecency with a child by sexual contact. A jury acquitted him, in part because the student was forced to testify at the last minute and because jurors did not want Roell to have to register as a sex offender, according to the boy’s mother Cherish Hooper.
Still, Garland ISD settled a lawsuit with the families of three students who accused Roell of abuse. The suit alleged administrators failed to report or address multiple abuse complaints and had pleaded with parents not to “ruin a good man.”
For the Forney ISD case, investigators obtained evidence that Bailey knew about Roell’s past and encouraged him to legally change his name in order to circumvent hiring safeguards.
Under his new name Johnathan Michael, he applied for a teaching job with Forney ISD and lied about his history of sexual misconduct charges.
In October 2025, Forney ISD hired Roell/Michael as a special education teacher at Crosby Elementary with an approximate annual salary of $67,700.
Roell specifically requested to work in a classroom with nonverbal students.
Both Bailey and Roell were ousted from Forney ISD in April amid an investigation into allegations from classroom aides that Roell was again physically and sexually abusing special education students and that Bailey was covering up his crimes.
In May, the Texas Rangers arrested Roell on state felony charges of injury to a child with intent to cause bodily injury and child grooming. Bailey was arrested in July and charged with endangering a child and failure to report child abuse.
Roell’s arrest led to the federal investigation and indictment.
“This indictment demonstrates the lengths these two defendants went to circumvent a hiring process meant to keep our schools and students safe,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock, whose office investigated the case along with the Texas Rangers.
Federal prosecutors say communications between Roell and Bailey demonstrate explicit coordination to hide Roell’s prior criminal charges and ensure his hiring, allowing him to fraudulently receive payments from Forney ISD that included federal funds.
“The allegations in this indictment represent a profound violation of trust,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould.
A school is supposed to be a place where children are safe and protected, not a place where an educator with a known history of misconduct can walk back into a classroom because someone in a position of authority helped him hide who he really was – a predator that targets special needs children.
Raybould’s prosecution of Roell and Bailey is the first under a new federal initiative his office launched last month aimed at protecting students and enforcing accountability in North Texas public schools.
Project Safe Schools targets failures in mandatory reporting of educator misconduct and penalizes the practice of “passing the trash,” where educators with known misconduct issues move between schools without disclosure of their prior wrongdoing.
As part of the groundbreaking investigation and prosecution involving federal, state, and local authorities, Forney ISD agreed to a civil settlement under the False Claims Act for violating federal grant conditions.
“This office will use every tool available to aggressively prosecute anyone who compromises the safety of children or undermines the integrity of our public institutions,” added Raybould.
Previous coverage:
Forney ISD Removes Special Ed Teacher Over Misconduct Allegations
Forney ISD Abuse Scandal Shows Texas Schools Still Passing the Trash
Feds Launch ‘Project Safe Schools’ Initiative in North Texas
Feds File Fraud Charges in Forney ISD ‘Pass the Trash’ Scheme
