Former Texas High employee accused of sexual misconduct with students
TEXARKANA, Texas — A former Texas High School staff member was recently arrested on charges of improper relationship between educator and student and sexual assault of a child.
Ashlyn Faye Bell, 24, is accused of engaging in sexual misconduct last fall with three boys, two of whom were 17 and a one of whom was 16, according to probable cause affidavits. Bell was employed from Aug. 5, 2019, to May 22 as an instructional aide, according to Texarkana Independent School District spokesperson Tina Veal Gooch.
The case was originally brought to the attention of Texarkana, Texas, police by a teacher who reported a conversation she overheard among a group of male students.
The boys were allegedly teasing one boy that he might be the father of a pregnant school employee. When the teacher confronted the 17-year-old student, he allegedly informed the teacher that Bell had already “told him he was not the daddy.”
Because the alleged sexual encounters between Bell and the three students occurred at her residence in New Boston, Texas, that city’s police department conducted the investigation. The first boy was interviewed in mid-June and told investigators he had a sexual encounter with Bell over Thanksgiving break in 2019.
The boy alleged that the two were communicating via SnapChat and Bell
agreed to meet him at a truck stop. From there, Bell allegedly took the boy to her home in New Boston in the 900 block of Boston Avenue.
The boy allegedly reported that Bell’s child was asleep in a car seat in the back of her car and that he and Bell engaged in sexual activity in her bedroom after she put the child in bed. Bell allegedly drove the boy to his home in Wake Village, Texas, afterward.
The first student allegedly told investigators of other students who’d engaged in sex with Bell. The second alleged victim said he began associating with Bell outside of school because she was tutoring him.
The second boy, 17, reported that he went to Bell’s home several times and that on the third visit the two engaged in sexual activity in the fall of 2019.
A third boy reported that he was 16 and knew Bell because she was working in the library. He allegedly said the two began communicating outside of school via SnapChat. He reported that after the night of the Texas High football team’s last playoff game, Nov. 22, he “jokingly told Bell he was coming to see her.”
Later in the night, Bell allegedly sent the third boy a SnapChat message asking him if he was coming over. Bell allegedly had her child in the car seat when she picked him up from his home and drove him to her residence in New Boston. The third boy told investigators
Bell took him home at approximately 5:15 a.m. and that she picked him up again for sex the following weekend.
Bell was arrested in late June on two counts of improper relationship between educator and student involving the 17-year-old boys and a charge of sexual assault of a child involving the 16-year-old boy. All three offenses are punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
Bell is free on bonds totaling $150,000.