More Texas teachers have been barred from working in public schools following their arrests for sex crimes involving students and other children.
A law passed last year with overwhelming bipartisan support requires the State Board for Educator Certification to temporarily suspend the teaching certificates of educators arrested for certain felonies involving sexual or violent abuse, inappropriate relationships with students, or other serious misconduct.
Educators whose certificates are indefinitely suspended are also placed on the state’s Do Not Hire Registry.
The law, known as Senate Bill 571, was designed to protect Texas students from harm at the hands of school employees by keeping credibly accused abusers out of classrooms while the cases against them are prosecuted.
Before SB 571—authored by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston)—educators arrested for serious crimes such as sexual abuse of students had their teaching certificates flagged as “under review,” but sanctions were not added until suspects were finally convicted.
Now, reported arrests for qualifying crimes trigger indefinite suspensions. The Texas Education Agency’s Educator Investigations Division reviews the reports and recommends disciplinary actions to SBEC as warranted.
SBEC members approve the mandatory suspensions (and other sanctions) as part of their regular meetings, as well as during meetings of the Temporary Suspension Committee formed last year in response to SB 571.
The suspensions remain in effect until criminal cases against the educators are fully resolved.
During a July 16 meeting, SBEC’s Temporary Suspension Committee considered cases of 26 certified teachers recently arrested for qualifying crimes.
Eight had their Texas teaching certificates placed on indefinite suspension and were added to the Do Not Hire Registry due to arrests for child sex crimes:
Lorinda Bocardo, a 43-year-old counselor in Goose Creek Independent School District arrested in April for indecency with a child by sexual contact and improper relationship with a 15-year-old student she allegedly began grooming when he was in middle school.
Caleb Carter, 27, charged in April with sexual assault of a child for allegedly raping an underage student while working as an orchestra director at Round Rock High School.
Robert Custer, 58, a former teacher and camp counselor arrested in 2025 on a federal charge of accessing child sexual abuse material.
BreAnn Halcumb, 34, a high school volleyball coach in Randolph Field ISD arrested in June for alleged sexual misconduct with a female student athlete.
Kelvin Leiva, 38, a Grand Prairie ISD middle school teacher charged with child grooming.
David Ezequiel Martinez-Saraoz, a 23-year-old assistant band director in Connally ISD arrested in May on multiple charges for engaging in sex with a 17-year-old student and having videos of their encounters.
Wilbert Antonio Sequeiros, a 61-year-old former teacher and soccer coach in Houston ISD and Klein ISD, arrested 2025 after years on the run in Peru for sexually assaulting multiple elementary school boys and girls.
Edward Vermeulen-Wise, 48, a Waco ISD theater teacher charged in May with child grooming.
Another 15 teachers’ certifications were temporarily suspended due to arrests for other serious crimes in and out of classrooms, including child endangerment and assault:
Lucero Alanis, 31, a McAllen ISD high school special education assistant arrested in May on a charge of endangering her own child.
Eddie Lee Durham, who has held a lifetime educational aide certification since 1994.
Chasten Leeshad King, 32, an educational aide arrested in Tarrant County in June 2025 for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Rachel Ann Kirspel, 38, a Marshall ISD aide arrested in May for injury to child.
Patricia Alviso Lopez, Martha Ramirez, and Laura Sillas, United ISD special education aides arrested in May on injury to a child charges. Houston attorney Tony Buzbee is representing families of eight Nye Elementary students ages 6-8 years old allegedly injured by the educators and claims school administrators knew about the abuse for months but failed to act.
Johnathan Michael, 45, a Forney ISD special education teacher “removed” from Crosby Elementary in April along with other aides and Principal Wendy Bailey amid a multi-agency investigation of misconduct allegations. The teacher was originally certified as Michael Raymond Roell but changed his legal name after he was charged in 2016 with physically and sexually abusing male special education students in Garland ISD. A jury acquitted Roell of the criminal charges. Three families filed lawsuits that were consolidated then dismissed in 2019 when the district agreed to a settlement.
Gerardo Benito Moreno Mendez, 32, arrested in June for selling weight loss drugs to staff while a principal in Crowley ISD.
Joseph Moseley, 44, arrested in May by Arlington police for indecent assault.
Brendan Paul Raphael, 42, a teacher and coach in Garland ISD and Mesquite ISD arrested in April 2025 for continuous violence against a family member and other crimes and again in May 2026 on two counts of assaulting a family member.
Taylor Reese Spano, a Wimberley High School band director arrested in May on a felony family violence charge.
Vaughn Robert Taylor, 28, a special education teacher in Conroe ISD.
Jeffrey Clark Wood, a 77-year-old who had held a lifetime certification since 1989.
Earl Warren Woods, 68, a special education teacher and track coach arrested in May by Houston police for injury to a child with intent to cause bodily harm. A representative for Woods told SBEC members that the coach won a Teacher of the Year award a month before the incident and was just “trying to motivate the child.”
Three other cases on the suspension committee’s agenda were pulled from consideration by TEA staff, although their certifications remain under review by the agency: Maria Esther Ramirez (Laredo ISD), Charles “Chaz” Robilotto (Conroe ISD), and Candice Weishan (Victoria ISD).
A new TEA transparency tool called the Educator Misconduct Reporting Dashboard shows that in the first 10 months of Fiscal Year 2026, which began in September 2025, the agency has received more than 16,000 misconduct complaints (1,685 a month) and more than 21,500 criminal history alerts (2,153 a month).
According to dashboard data, the TEA and SBEC have implemented 217 indefinite suspensions so far this fiscal year.
Under transparency provisions of SB 571, SBEC’s quarterly disciplinary action reports posted on the dashboard now show the type of offense for which educators are sanctioned and the school where they worked.
Texas Scorecard has reported on hundreds of school employees accused of sex crimes involving students and other children and maintains a map of known educator sexual misconduct arrests.
The next SBEC quarterly meeting will be held on July 24, with a work session on July 23.
