Robin Dunlap, a 27-year-old Haines City High School teacher in Polk County, Florida, was arrested after deputies said she sent nude photos and had explicit conversations with a 15-year-old boy in Texas.
Dunlap turned herself into the Winter Haven Police Department back in November for sending the illicit photos to the unidentified teen. On November 18, 2017, when turning herself in, Dunlap stated that she sent the nude photos to the teen before she knew his real age, claiming the boy had told her that he was 19-year-old throughout the conversations the two had over Xbox One. The conversations moved to communicating through Kik via text and video chat on their cell phones.
When the mother of the victim found the messages on her son’s cellphone, she contacted Dunlap and informed her that the boy was 15-years-old.
27 yr-old Haines City HS teacher faces felony charges after continuing to send sexually explicit conversations to a 15 year-old Texas boy after she admitted to police she knew his real age. https://t.co/RqDsJhcDPR pic.twitter.com/jiLukbit86
— Winter Haven Police (@WHPoliceDept) December 19, 2017
via Fox News:
Dunlap told detectives the teenager was the only person who understood her, according to a press release. The 27-year-old gave investigators consent to look at her phones, where they found conversations from Nov. 26 to Dec. 11 that “slowly progressed to extremely vulgar and sexually explicit language,” the release read.
“There is absolutely no excuse for an adult – especially a high school teacher – to continue sexually explicit conversations with a 15-year-old long after his real age is revealed,” Winter Haven Police Chief Charlie Bird said in a statement. “The vulnerable age of this victim and the fact that this woman took advantage of him for her own personal needs is inexcusable.”
Dunlap, who is listed as a science teacher on the Haines City High School’s website, was charged with transmitting material harmful to a minor and using a communication device to commit a felony. According to Polk County jail records, she was still being held at Polk County jail on Tuesday, December 19.
This is the latest in a string of teacher/student sex scandals this year. In November, Tennessee teacher Janet Smothers was arrested. Former nutrition teacher LaToya Parker was also arrested for a relationship with a student. Florida teacher Caroline Lawson was charged with sexual assault. 26-year-old Allyson Moran was also arrested for similar crimes. The 23-year-old high school teacher Katherine Ross Ridenhour was also arrested for an inappropriate relationship.
Furthermore, Hunter Day, 22, was also arrested after a sting operation. Megan Kotarski was also arrested on similar charges. Michelle Schiffer, a 23-year-old history teacher in Texas, was also charged and arrested for allegedly having sex with a teenage student. 29-year-old Alyssia Marie Reddy was arrested in Maryland for her crimes in New Jersey. Samantha Fitzgerland, a 28-year-old, was most recently arrested and charged. Jordan Ondish was arrested for her inappropriate relationship with a 19-year-old, while 28-year-old Samantha Fitzpatrick was arrested on similar charges. Nicole Marie Andrews was arrested as well. 32-year-old Jessica Langford was arrested and charged with sexual assault-related crimes as well. A teacher from Oregon, Andrea Baber, was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student.