Another Texas school employee has been charged with a sex crime against a child.
Larry Lance Plant was arrested on a charge of indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.
According to a statement from the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office, local deputies working with the Texas Attorney General’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Unit arrested Plant on a warrant out of Dallas County.
Plant was booked into the Van Zandt County Jail on July 7 and released the next day on a $20,000 bond.
The sheriff’s statement said Martin’s Mill ISD administrators were “immediately notified of the operation and fully cooperated throughout the process.”
“This arrest is another example of the working relationships between law enforcement agencies and our local institutions,” stated Sheriff Kevin Bridger. “By working together, we remain committed to protecting our community and ensuring those accused of serious crimes are taken into custody safely and professionally.”
Superintendent Derek Driver notified the Martin’s Mill ISD community on July 7 that an unnamed employee had been arrested.
Driver said district administrators were “cooperating fully with law enforcement and state agencies” and “taking all appropriate measures to address this incident.”
Online records show Plant joined Martin’s Mill ISD in the 2024-25 school year. He previously worked transportation and maintenance jobs in Kaufman ISD and Crandall ISD.
Martin’s Mill ISD is a two-school district located in Van Zandt County southeast of Dallas.
In 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.
TEA is also averaging more than 2,100 criminal history alerts each month on Texas school employees like Plant who are arrested or have their criminal histories updated.
