A North Texas school district employee was jailed following accusations that he sexually abused one or more young children.
Matthew Thompson, the technology director for Huckabay Independent School District, was arrested on charges of sexual performance by a child, a first-degree felony, and child grooming, a third-degree felony.
Sexual performance is a first-degree felony if the child is younger than 14 years of age.
It’s not clear if the victim or victims are students in the district.
The Erath County Sheriff’s Office arrested Thompson on January 23, and he is being held in the Erath County Jail. A judge set bonds totaling $180,500.
According to a statement issued by Erath County Sheriff Matt Coates, investigators from his office executed a search warrant Friday in Stephenville in conjunction with the North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, which had been investigating Thompson.
ICAC is a network of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies working together to investigate and prosecute online child predators.
“Huckabay ISD officials were made aware of this investigation and cooperated fully to ensure the safety of their students,” stated Sheriff Coates, adding that no identifying information about any victim or victims will be released to the public.
Superintendent Wes Corzine notified the Huckabay ISD community on Friday about the arrest but did not identify Thompson.
Corzine stated that the district had been alerted to a student’s allegations by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
“At that time, I placed this employee on administrative leave, and they have not been on campus since January 14, 2026,” stated Corzine.
“None of the information has been shared publicly up to this point because we had very little information and were not at liberty to do so.”
Corzine said the district has “fully cooperated” with law enforcement’s investigation, which remains active.
“This is deeply concerning for me as your school Superintendent, and I know it will be for you as well,” Corzine added. “Above all, we want to keep our kids safe, but we also want to minimize the disruption to their school year and keep rumors and misinformation to a minimum.”
Huckabay ISD is a one-school district with about 325 students.
In just the past few years, hundreds of Texas school employees in districts across the state have been accused of sex crimes involving students and other children.
