After five years of legal delays, an Amarillo teacher pleaded guilty to molesting middle school girls and cut a deal for no jail time.
Clark Wayne Inskeep, 56, was teaching at Austin Middle School in the Amarillo Independent School District when he was accused in 2021 of touching the breasts of three students on five different occasions.
Inskeep was arrested and charged with five counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.
Since then, he’s remained free on a $50,000 bond—$10,000 for each charge.
On June 17, 2026—nearly five years later and just days before a scheduled jury trial—Inskeep pleaded guilty to five lesser charges of indecent assault, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
As part of his plea deal, Inskeep was sentenced to two years of deferred adjudication with no jail time. He must undergo a community supervision risk assessment and may not contact his victims.
According to court documents, prosecutors told Judge Dee Johnson of the 47th District Court in Potter County that after “extensive discussion,” the victims said they preferred the plea deal to a jury trial.
An indecent assault conviction does not require sex offender registration.
It also does not trigger an automatic revocation of a teaching certificate.
Inskeep has held a Texas teaching certificate since 1998 that is valid for life. His certification is currently under review by the Texas Education Agency but remains valid for him to teach.
Court documents do not mention Inskeep surrendering his certification, although the TEA may still recommend that the State Board for Educator Certification suspend or revoke Inskeep’s certificate and/or place him on the Do Not Hire Registry.
In just the past few years, hundreds of Texas school employees have been accused of sex crimes involving students and other children, and thousands have been reported to the TEA for sexual misconduct.
The TEA’s Educator Misconduct Reporting Dashboard shows that the agency is currently investigating more than 2,400 sexual misconduct complaints and opening an average of 260 new cases each month.
