Arkansas teacher, 26, is charged with sexually assaulting 15

Release time：2024-05-21 18:39:52 Source：Culture Compass news portal

A teacher and children's volunteer at one of Arkansas' biggest churches accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy told police she would not go further than oral sex so he could 'stay pure.'

Reagan Gray, 26, sent naked pictures 'on a daily basis' to the boy after beginning the abuse in the fall of 2020 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, once attended by ex-President Bill Clinton.

The church sent her for counseling after the boy's parents discovered text messages alluding to the affair on their son's phone but she was welcomed back within weeks and resumed her abuse.

The pair had met in her car and in her Monticello apartment until May 2021 but the boy told investigators he could not remember if he responded to her demands for naked images in response to her torrent of nude photos.

'I don't have explicit memory of doing that but, with how often she requested it, it probably did happen,' he admitted.

Teacher and church volunteer Reagan Gray, 26, allegedly had a nine-month relationship with a 15-year-old student ministry member from 2020

Officials at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock warned her off the relationship but she allegedly resumed it after returning from counselling, demanding he send her nude images 

The boy told detectives that the pair went no further than oral sex so he could 'stay pure'

Gray who was teaching at Little Rock Christian Academy met her alleged victim at the church where he was also a member of the student ministry.

The student told detectives that Gray found out his phone number through the group chat for the church's music program.

The boy's parents confronted Gray and informed head pastor Steven Smith after discovering a series of text messages.

Smith said he confronted Gray and suspended her from student ministry despite her insistence that her relationship with the boy was not sexual.

The police were not informed and the church assigned Gray an 'accountability partner' in the shape of Smith's wife, Ashley.

But a police affidavit claims that Gray resumed her abuse after returning from her counselling, switching her communications with the boy to Snapchat.

It was not until a counselling session with Smith in September of last year that Gray admitted the relationship had been 'sexual in nature' and had continued after her suspension.

Police were called and the boy told FBI investigators that the pair had relations between five and 10 times during the fall of 2020.

He said Gray performed oral sex on him but the pair did not have intercourse 'in order for (him) to stay pure,' the affidavit records.

By then she had been hired as a teacher at Sylvan Hills Middle School in Sherwood but she was suspended by Pulaski County Special School District in February after it learned of the investigation.

Gray was charged with a single felony count of sexual assault teenager between September 2020 and May 2021 and was freed on $20,000 bail after turning herself into Little Rock police on Wednesday.

Her attorney John Ogles said she denied the charge and said he expected her to clear her name.

Gray has been released on $20,000 bail and has denied one felony count of sexual assault

The church in Little Rock is one of the biggest in Arkansas and has boasted former president Bill Clinton among its congregation 

 She is due to appear at Little Rock District Court on June 17

'We trust the judicial system,' he insisted.

Smith resigned from his post earlier this month and interim executive pastor Mark Carter said the case had caused distress to worshippers at the 128-year-old church that routinely attracts nearly 1,000 people to its services.

He said Gray's arrest had been reported to the church's new 'Caring Well Team', to 'assess the situation and determine what action steps will be taken.'

'We are grieved over this situation, hurting for the young man affected, and praying for all involved,' he wrote.

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