Reagan Gray, photo via KTHV-TV

Why can’t supposedly educated people realize that this stuff can put them in jail?

It could be argued that, back in the time of Mary Kay Letourneau, there hadn’t been much in the way of education for teachers that sex with students was wrong, and could get you thrown in jail, but I find it difficult to believe that any teacher in 2024 would be unaware of it. If Reagan Gray was unaware of it a little bit ago, she’s very much knows about it now.

More, what church pastor has not heard of the case of Monsignor William Lynn, who was never accused of sexually abusing any minors, but who spent three years behind bars because as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s official in charge of priestly assignments, he moved priests who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors to other parishes, in an attempt to sweep things under the rug.

Arkansas teacher arrested after alleged sexual assault of minor while working as church volunteer

A 26-year-old Arkansas teacher has been arrested after she had an alleged sexual relationship with a minor while working as a volunteer at a Little Rock church.

by Chris Banks | April 19, 2024 | 4:19 PM CDT | Updated: 5:15 PM CDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A 26-year-old Little Rock woman has been arrested after having an alleged sexual relationship with a minor while working as a volunteer at a local church.

According to the affidavit, Reagan Gray began having a sexual relationship with a minor back in 2020. At the time, Gray worked as a teacher at Little Rock Christian Academy and worked as a volunteer in the student ministry at Immanuel Baptist Church.

This minor didn’t attend Little Rock Christian Academy where Gray worked, but was a member of the student ministry, where Gray volunteered.

The affidavit says that the minor’s parents discovered text messages in the minor’s cell phone in 2020 — the text thread was between the minor and Gray.

After making the discovery, the minor’s parents reportedly told Gray to stop messaging the child. The parents then reported the text messages to the senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church.

According to court records, the pastor’s name is Steven Smith, and the ‘relationship’ occurred when Miss Gray was 23 and the boy in question was 15.

Smith later told FBI investigators in February 2024 that Gray had confessed in counseling that the relationship between her and the alleged victim was “sexual in nature,” according to the affidavit. The affidavit continues that Gray and the victim continued sending messages to each other using the Snapchat application instead of text messages.

The affidavit shows Smith told investigators Gray and the alleged victim had additional physical contact since the 2020 discovery of their relationship. Gray told Smith about this, investigators reported.

Back to the originally cited article:

The church’s head pastor proceeded to ask Gray about the messages between she and the minor, to which she said that their relationship was not “physical.” Gray was then removed from the student ministry and required to undergo counseling.

Shortly after being removed, Gray returned and began volunteering in the ministry once again.

The head pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church was interviewed in February of 2024 and shared that in Fall of 2023, Gray admitted to him during a counseling session that her relationship with the minor back in 2020 was sexual in nature.

So, not only did Miss Gray have a sexual relationship with a then-15-year-old boy, the pastor knew about it, but did not inform law enforcement.

There are more details in the cited article, but a final blurb stated that Miss Gray is currently employed by Sylvan Hills Middle School, “but has been on administrative leave since February 12, 2024.” That means that Miss Gray passed some sort of background investigation, and was allowed to teach at a public middle school, because the pastor of Immanual Baptist Church kept his mouth shut.

The New York Post‘s story reported:

The alleged abuse, which occurred nearly a dozen times, took place in Gray’s car or apartment, the victim alleged.

Allegedly, the two never had actual “procreative sex,” but Miss Gray engaged in Monica Lewinsky type sexual behavior, which is wryly amusing, since Immanual Baptist Church is where Bill Clinton attended when he lived in Arkansas.

At least thus far, there have been no reports that Miss Gray abused any other kids, but Pastor Smith couldn’t know that would be the case. Yes, she (allegedly) committed felony sexual assault, but Mr Smith enabled her to continue with it after he found out about the case. This is the kind of thing that happens when people are too soft-hearted when it comes to reporting crime.