- Former Agua Dulce teacher was arrested Tuesday morning for alleging have sexual relationships with students.
- She was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, and two counts of grooming.
- Grooming is a third-degree felony that enacted on Sept. 1, 2023.
A former Agua Dulce teacher has been charged with two counts of grooming by the Alice Police Department following alleged inappropriate sexual relationships with students. But what is grooming?
Moncies Hernandez has lived in Jim Wells County for 60 years. He and his wife had been following the news on the teachers arrest, but he didn’t exactly know what the word "grooming" meant.
“We learn words every day, but it needs to be addressed,” Hernandez said.
In the State of Texas, grooming a child is considered a third-degree felony. Those convicted can be sentenced to two to 10 years in prison and face up to a $10,000 fine.
It's part of the Texas Child Grooming Law, which went into effect in September 2023.
“Grooming has been around for a long time period what we had before was a more general attempt of a particular crime. Sometimes it got caught early enough that it was very difficult for law enforcement to put those elements together,” District Attorney for the 79 Judicial District Carlos Garcia said.
Garcia explained to KRIS 6 News reporter Melissa Trevino what's considered grooming.
“It’s manipulating a child to do certain types of crimes basically there are these sexual types of crimes,” he said.
Neighbors like Moncies Hernandez were shaken up by the news that something like this happened in their community.
He said while this law does give harsher punishments.
“To keep an eye on our children sometimes we don't listen to them. And they stay quiet, and we don't ask them questions. And we need to get involved more with our children,” Hernandez said.
District Attorney García said this new law will hold more people accountable for their actions.
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