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Rachelle Terry, a 43-year-old school administrator in Georgia, has been arrested on charges of s*x crimes and distributing alcohol among students at a Halloween party.
Terry works at the Murray County school as the director of Enrollment, Data Collection, and Federal Programs. She has been associated with the school district for over 20 years and has an annual income of $110,000.
The investigation that led to Rachelle Terry’s arrest, began on November 9, 2022. Steve Loughridge, the Superintendent of the Murray County school, called Jimmy Davenport, the County Sheriff, and informed him about a Halloween party where alcohol was being provided to underage kids. Davenport told a local newspaper that he thinks a parent might have complained about it to the Superintendent.
Rachelle Terry turned herself in
The sheriff’s office is responsible for providing safety officers to the Murray County School system. To avoid any conflict of interest, Davenport requested that the Conasauga District Attorney’s Office take over the investigation.
Bert Poston, the Conasauga DA, confirmed handling the probe regarding Rachelle Terry and said:
“Sheriff Davenport asked me to take the lead on that so my investigator in Murray County conducted that investigation and took those charges. The GBI will not come in to investigate misdemeanor charges under those circumstances, so we agreed to take a look at it after the initial complaint came in.”
After the District Attorney’s office suspected the possibility of an alleged s*xual relationship between a student and Rachelle Terry, the DA requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigations to take charge.
DA Poston commented:
"We did so and ultimately took charges of furnishing alcohol to minors (5 counts) and contributing to the delinquency of a minor (5 counts). During the course of that investigation, information came to light that we turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and asked them to follow up on, which led to the additional charges of statutory r*pe and child molestation.”
The charges faced by Terry include – one count of statutory r*pe and two counts of s*xual offense against a minor along with five counts of giving alcohol to minors.
A spokesperson from the school told Fox Chattanooga how shocked and saddened the district was about the criminal charges.
They said:
“These are extremely serious charge. The safety and well-being of our students are always a top priority for the Murray County School.”
The communications coordinator for Murray County Schools, Derichia Lynch mentioned that Rachelle Terry has been on paid administrative leave since returning from Thanksgiving break.
Terry turned herself in on Wednesday, November 23, and has since been held in Murray County Jail.
Derichia added:
"Because she is under contract, her leave must be with pay until a hearing can be conducted."
In Georgia, 16 is considered the legal age of consent. Any child below that age cannot legally give consent. However, the age of the student/students involved in the Rachelle Terry case is still not known.
Teacher's aide in Oklahoma arrested for having s*xual relationship with a student
A similar incident took place in Oklahoma when a 22-year-old temporary teacher’s aide at Granite Public Schools was accused of indulging in a s*xual relationship with a student.
It was revealed that Ashley Waffle, the accused, got into a relationship with a minor student at the school just two weeks after being appointed to the job. According to reports, Ashley joined the school on October 10. On October 25, she started exchanging texts on Snapchat with a 16-year-old.
After rumors spread about the liaison between Ashley and the teen in the small town with less than 2,000 habitats, school officials urged the police to further look into the matter. As per court documents, Waffle and the teen met in her apartment twice sometime before November 9.
The teacher’s aide was immediately fired on November 10 and faced two second-degree r*pe charges. These charges can earn her up to 15 years in prison. Ashley is currently being held at the Greer County jail.
