A now-former Houston teacher is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old female student at KIPP East End High School over the course of several months and recording their sex acts.
Over Santiago Garcia Lopez, 25, was arrested Tuesday and charged with improper relationship between educator and student and sexual performance by a child. Both are second-degree felonies punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
The sexual activity reportedly began in March, and the teacher and student “recorded their sexual intercourse acts, which occurred at the school and the defendant’s residence.”
Garcia Lopez listed his job as Senior Director of Career and Technical Education at KIPP East End High School.
KIPP Texas Public Schools said they had already fired Garcia Lopez for “unrelated reasons” when they learned about his alleged sex crimes.
Toward the end of last school year, school leadership at KIPP East End High School was made aware of alleged sexual misconduct between a former teacher and a KIPP student. The former teacher had been terminated for unrelated reasons before the report of the alleged sexual misconduct.
ABC13 reported that Garcia Lopez had been charged with a DWI in Hidalgo County.
Garcia Lopez had since worked as a political consultant for multiple candidates’ campaigns including Pervez Agwan, a Democrat candidate for Texas’ 7th U.S. Congressional District in the Houston area. Agwan’s campaign terminated Garcia Lopez after learning of his arrest.
Bond was set at $100,000 for each charge.
Another former KIPP Houston teacher was arrested in April for smuggling four illegal aliens through Kinney County.
Texas Scorecard has reported on dozens of Texas educators accused of sex crimes involving students and other minors, and more “bad apples” are being charged almost every day.
