Robert Thomas Kotara, a 33-year-old cheerleading and gymnastics coach in San Antonio, Texas, was busted for sexually assaulting a teen student. The sexual assaults reportedly began when the teen was just 16 years old and became a “regular occurrence,” including one instance in front of Kotara’s own child.
The victim reportedly made several attempts to distance herself from Kotara, including changing her phone number. However, Kotara continued to contact her through email, according to a report from the San Antonio Express-News.
In one instance, Kotara allegedly asked the victim to babysit his child. While she was babysitting, Kotara had sex with his as the child played in a nearby room.
From the report:
The affidavit also contained information from another coach who worked at the gym who told police he once witnessed the victim sitting naked on Kotara’s lap in his office. The witness showed police July 2018 text messages of him confronting Kotara about the incident, according to the affidavit. It is unclear from the current affidavit if the witness reported the incident to law enforcement at the time it occurred.
Kotara was arrested on Friday, January 10 and charged with sexually assaulting a former student.
Police: Gymnastics coach Robert Thomas Kotara, 33, accused of raping student for two years https://t.co/tFHE3RAiUe #WhoIsAfterYourKids? #CircleOfTrust @RNRTexas
— Burbank (@HarlanRoberts4) January 12, 2020
Over the course of the past year alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including 25-year-old substitute teacher Alexis Mercedes Boberg in Baltimore, Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida. Additionally, Texas teachers Meredith Null and Edna Longoria were arrested on similar charges.
As for why the number of these incidents has seemingly increased, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoedsite.wpengine.com and we will respond as soon as possible.
