NEED TO KNOW
- Sarah Jacas allegedly molested and then raped a student over the course of multiple months when the 14-year-old boy started eating lunch in her classroom
- The teacher allegedly created a Instagram account to contact the student
- Police arrested Jacas on June 23 and charged her with battery, molestation and statutory rape
A Florida teacher is facing a litany of charges after she allegedly raped a middle school student in her classroom.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrested Sarah Jacas, 32, earlier this week on multiple counts of lewd or lascivious battery and lewd or lascivious molestation as well as a single count of statutory rape by an authority figure, according to an arrest warrant obtained by PEOPLE.
The alleged victim, now 16, spoke with deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on June 10 and alleged that Jacas had sexually abused him in 2023 when the then-14-year-old attended Corner Lake Middle School.
Jacas and the alleged victim began having lunch together in her classroom at the start of the 2022-23 school year “because he had issues fitting in and associating with the right crowd,” according to a copy of the affidavit for arrest warrant, which was obtained by PEOPLE.
The alleged victim told investigators that he and Jacas grew closer during these lunches, but alleged that she began to “isolate” him from other students over time. He also said that the two began to express physical affection for each other, but alleged that what started off as chaste hugs and kisses on the check soon grew into what the affidavit alleges was molestation.
According to the affidavit, Jacas and the alleged victim would text outside of school hours. But one time, at 1 a.m., the boy’s mother caught them exchanging messages and instructed both to stop texting, saying it was “abnormal,” the affidavit alleges.
The educator stopped texting but also allegedly created a fake Instagram account where she would “dirty talk” with the alleged victim, the affidavit claims, further alleging that she wrote, “I just had sex with my husband and it wasn’t the best but I imagined it was you.”
A week before Spring Break in 2023, the alleged victim told deputies that Jacas covered the windows of her classroom with active assailant curtains, laid a pillow in the corner and had sexual intercourse with him. Jacas allegedly did not provide the boy with protection, according to the affidavit.
Jacas allegedly sexually abused the boy each day before Spring Break, but after the break commenced, Jacas’ husband — with whom she shares a son — learned about his wife’s alleged behavior, according to the affidavit. Subsequently, the husband posed as Jacas and contacted the teen on Jacas’ secret social media account, the affidavit alleges.
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“[Jacas] called [the alleged victim] from an unknown number and told [the alleged victim] her husband found out about their relationship and for [the alleged victim] to ‘lay low’ because her husband” was angry, Deputy Sheriff Kyle Cole wrote in the affidavit.
The alleged victim told deputies that in the remaining weeks of the school year, Jacas did not return to school. On June 16, the alleged victim allegedly called Jacas on the phone — in the presence of law enforcement. (Details of the phone conversation were redacted from the affidavit.)
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Jacas has not yet entered a plea and the public defender representing her did not respond to a request for comment,
She was booked into custody on June 23 and made her first court appearance the following day.
On June 25, Jacas was released from the Orange County Detention Facility after posting bail.
The principal at Corner Lake Middle School reached out to students’ families after Jacas’ arrest and said “there is an ongoing investigation by law enforcement and the district’s Office of Professional Standards” and that “this person will not be returning to campus pending the outcome of the investigation.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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