Another Texas teacher has been arrested for sex crimes against a student.
David Hoelewyn, 27, a high school teacher at Texans Can Academies in Austin, is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female student after sending her hundreds of sexual messages and explicit pictures of himself via social media.
Hoelewyn was arrested earlier this month by Austin police and charged with sexual assault of a child and improper relationship between educator and student, both second-degree felonies punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
Principal Bryan Townsend told police Hoelewyn had been sending the victim daily nude images through text messages and Snapchat since January, before the teacher physically assaulted the student multiple times at school.
Townsend conducted an internal investigation, then contacted the Austin Police Department and fired Hoelewyn.
Police said they retrieved more than 300 Snapchat messages between Hoelewyn and the victim.
According to court documents, police said the teacher’s messages were “largely sexual in nature, some of which reference David giving Victim ‘extra credit’ towards her school work for sexual favors and others that allude to David and Victim coordinating a location and time for which they can have sex with one another.”
The victim said she gave Hoelewyn her phone number to be added to a group chat for a school club, and he then began texting her directly. She said the texts became increasingly sexual, and Hoelweyn sent her multiple inappropriate photos of himself daily.
The victim told police that she and Hoelewyn had sexual interactions at least twice, both times on school premises.
Hoelewyn admitted initiating communications with the victim, telling the principal, “My hope was that it would stay professional. … Before I could cut it off, we had already shared pictures of each other.”
Texans Can Academies said in a statement:
Upon being made aware of the matter, Texans Can Academies immediately placed the teacher on administrative leave and notified law enforcement, Child Protective Services, and the Texas Education Agency. The teacher’s employment was terminated following an internal investigation.
According to State Board for Educator Certification records, Hoelewyn does not hold a Texas teaching certificate.
According to Travis County court records, Hoelewyn was released on $100,000 bond and ordered to stay away from minor children and social media.
Hoelewyn is among dozens of Texas educators charged in recent months with sex crimes involving students and other transgressions that disqualify them from teaching children.
