A Tennessee teacher who was previously suspended this year due to suspicions of an inappropriate relationship with a student has now been arrested and charged.
As WTVC NewsChannel 9 reported earlier this week, police deputies in the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office arrested 28-year-old Hamilton County teacher Casey McGrath and charged her with statutory rape.
JUST IN: Online records show a Hamilton County teacher who was suspended earlier this year on suspicion of an inappropriate relationship with a student has now been arrested and booked on aggravated statutory rape charges.
— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@newschannelnine) August 21, 2023
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McGrath was detained on Aug. 18 according to the station and is out on release after posting a $10,000 bond. She will be arraigned in Hamilton County Criminal Court on Sept. 6.
On Tuesday, WTVC received a copy of the indictment against McGrath, which was dated August 14. According to the file, McGrath unlawfully engaged in sexual activity with a person between the ages of 13 and 18.
According to Steve Doremus, a spokesperson for Hamilton County schools, McGrath is now no longer an employee with the school district, as reported by Fox News on Friday.
Ms. McGrath was suspended without pay on March 31. She was not rehired for the current school year.
McGrath began working as a 10th-grade geometry instructor at Central High in 2020, as stated in a now-removed online article from the school’s newspaper. Prior to that, she had been employed at the nearby East Ridge Middle School.
McGrath also volunteered as an assistant volleyball coach at the school. As reported by Fox News, she shared with a student newspaper in a now-deleted article that “being able to spend time with students and build relationships with them” outside of an academic setting provided her the opportunity to get to know them better.
She hoped that “students would believe in their own capability to do math” and that she “cared about them as a person, not just a student.”
A high school junior described McGrath as “a very involved teacher.”
She’s a very involved teacher. I can tell she respected her students, which makes me have respect for her in turn.
As highlighted by Fox News, the charge against McGrath is aggravated statutory rape, which is categorized as a class D felony. In accordance with Tennessee’s sentencing guidelines, this offense carries a potential penalty ranging between two to 12 years in prison.
