According to People Crime: Suzanne Lea Owen, a 35-year-old teacher at Evangelical Christian School in Fort Meyers, was arrested Wednesday (May 9th, 2018) for sexual acts with one of her students. She is charged with one count of custodial sexual battery, a first-degree felony in Florida.
A Statement from the Lee County Sheriff’s Department
The sexual encounter supposedly happened off campus and one week prior to the arrest. According to the sheriff’s department in Lee County:
“The investigation revealed that [Owen] had one sexual encounter with the male student one week prior, where the two decided to meet off-campus. Detectives further discovered the teacher had been communicating with the student through personal text messages several weeks prior to the incident.” – Sheriff’s Office of Lee County, Florida
Owen’s Bail and Jailing Information
Owen was recently released from Lee County Jail on a $50,000 bond. According to the jail, there are several conditions to her release, including:
- Owen is forbidden from having any kind of contact with minors
- She must wear a GPS monitor at all times
- Owen is even restricted on contact with her own children and must be supervised while engaging with them
- She is not allowed back on school property
- Other than her husband, she has also been forbidden any kind of contact with anyone at the school
Currently, Owen has not taken any plea offer or allowed an attorney to speak on her behalf so far.
A Response from the School
Needless to say, the school is taken aback by the actions of one of their own teachers. Owen was a very well-respected and decorated teacher before the incident. She was even once a finalist for the Golden Halo teacher award. The headmaster of the school has been quoted as saying:
“We are deeply saddened and express sincere sympathy to any and all victims of sexual assault. We have and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement during this investigation. ECS was not aware of the report of the incident until late today. I wanted you to be aware of this as I anticipate it will be reported by the news media. Please be in prayer for all of the families involved.” – Headmaster of Evangelical Christian School in Fort Myers, Florida