UPDATED January 27 with a statement from San Antonio ISD.
A San Antonio middle school teacher is accused of exposing himself to a 9-year-old girl in a neighborhood park.
Andrew Bryant Smierciak, 38, was arrested on a charge of indecency with a child by exposure, a third-degree felony punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison.
Smierciak is a Leadership Officer Training Corps (LOTC) instructor at Edgar Allan Poe STEM Dual Language Middle School in the San Antonio Independent School District. LOTC teachers prepare middle school students for potential high school JROTC programs.
In a news briefing Saturday, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said deputies arrested Smierciak after responding Friday afternoon to a reported sex offense involving a child victim.
A young girl had walked past a man in a vehicle who smiled at her then “exposed his genitalia to her and began performing a lewd sex act on himself,” according to Salazar.
The girl screamed, and a concerned citizen intervened. The Good Samaritan followed the suspect’s car, got his license plate number, and then confronted Smierciak.
Salazar said he is “extremely thankful” for the citizen’s “heroic actions” but does not recommend confronting suspects. “In this instance, thank God everything worked out OK.”
The sheriff said San Antonio ISD has cooperated in the ongoing investigation and warned there is a “distinct possibility” of more victims, as Smierciak is “around children a lot” as a teacher.
Salazar encouraged anyone with information to contact the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at (210) 335-6000 or [email protected].
Smierciak was booked into the Bexar County Jail on January 24 and released on a $30,000 special condition bond requiring GPS monitoring.
San Antonio ISD spokeswoman Laura Short provided a statement to Texas Scorecard on Tuesday:
We have learned of the arrest of one of our employees stemming from an off-duty incident that occurred outside of school hours. The Texas Education Agency will be notified. Student safety remains our top priority, and the employee will not return to campus.
Smierciak was issued one-year emergency permits to teach Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) in August 2024 and August 2025. Such permits are requested by the employing school district.
In November, Smierciak won a 2025 Extra Yard for Teachers award for “outstanding” San Antonio-area educators “who make a lasting impact in their classrooms and communities.”
At least two other JROTC instructors are currently facing child sex crime charges.
Oscar Olvera was arrested last week on a charge of child grooming involving a student. Olvera is a JROTC teacher at Mercedes High School in Mercedes ISD.
Michael Songy was arrested in May 2025 for an alleged indecent assault of a student while he was working as a JROTC instructor at Rock Hill High School in Prosper ISD. A second charge was added in December.
In just the past few years, hundreds of Texas teachers have been accused of sex crimes involving students and other minors, and thousands have been reported to the Texas Education Agency for sexual misconduct.
From September 2021 through August 2025, 11 San Antonio ISD teachers were reported to the TEA for sexual misconduct in school, while 17 were reported for “improper relationships” with students.
