Cecilia Mueller, 46, is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14.
Bexar County jail
A longtime elementary teacher at the Northside Independent School District is behind bars, accused of grooming and sexual assaulting a former fifth-grade student.
Henderson Elementary School teacher Cecilia Mueller, 46, was arrested Monday and charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, a first-degree felony.
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The district website lists her as a fifth-grade teacher at the school, where she has worked since August 2019, spokesperson Barry Perez said in a statement. She previously worked at Lewis Elementary School from August 2007 to June 2019.
“NISD Employee Relations has placed the individual on leave,” Perez said. “NISD is cooperating fully with this ongoing (San Antonio Police Department) investigation.”
The allegations came to light last week, when a 20-year-old man reported to police that he had been sexually abused by Mueller when he was in her fifth-grade class from 2016 to 2017, according to the affidavit.
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The man told police that he was 10 and 11 years old when he was placed in Mueller’s fifth-grade class. He became one of her “favorites” who would sit at a designated reading table in the classroom.
“Favorite” students who sat at the reading table would “get singled out for attention,” according to the affidavit. The man reported that Mueller would engage in inappropriate conversations with them, including discussions about her personal life and questions about their “crushes.”
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Mueller would allow the “favorites” to stay in her classroom during the lunch period, where inappropriate behavior escalated.
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She showed them explicit music videos and on one occasion, a pornographic video, the affidavit says. Other lunch period incidents included games of “Kiss, Marry, Kill” and games of truth or dare where Mueller dared students to kiss each other.
Students were told not to tell their parents or she would get in “serious trouble.”
The lunch period is also where Mueller’s conduct toward the victim became increasingly abusive, the man told police.
She began touching his leg and kissing him daily when they were alone in the classroom. Eventually she told the victim she “wanted more” and engaged in sexual conduct with him in a classroom closet.
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Mueller would text the victim after school hours “constantly,” according to the affidavit. Investigators reviewed text message logs provided by the victim’s mother, finding about 300 messages and photos between the victim and Mueller’s phone number from just one week in February 2017.
The sexual interactions continued through the end of the school year, the victim said. He did not have contact with her once he finished the fifth grade, according to the affidavit.
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“(Mueller) told the victim not to ever tell anyone about their relationship for the rest of his life,” the document reads. “(Mueller) also told the victim she never wanted to have sex with him because it would make her ruin him and to contact her when he turns 18.”
Mueller is held at the Bexar County jail with bail set at $95,000. If convicted, she could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.