ST. JAMES PARISH, La. — A traveling art teacher at a St. James Parish school will serve ten years in state prison after admitting to engaging in sexual behavior with a 12-year-old student.
51-year-old Lisa Samuels of Donaldsonville was accused of touching the student’s breast and telling the student about her sexual relationships with women, according to our partners at The Advocate.
The Advocate reports Samuels was sentenced under a plea agreement that resulted in a reduced charge to avoid going to trial. Court papers reveal she pleaded guilty to indecent behavior with a juvenile, when she originally faced one count of molestation.
The student says Samuels put “her hands under her shirt and stroked her breast to show her what would happen if she didn’t wear a bra.” She called a state crisis hotline after the alleged incident in 2018 and her mother reported the inappropriate conversations to the school system, according to bail documents.
School officials allowed Samuels to stay on the job for two months after they were informed that she was under investigation for inappropriate behavior with a student, according to The Advocate. The student’s mother told school officials her daughter felt uncomfortable and anxious knowing that Samuels was still on campus. Reports have not revealed what school the girl attended.
Samuels was reportedly arrested in January 2022 and stayed in a St. James Parish jail.
The girl’s parents filed a lawsuit in April in district court, which The Advocate says is still pending as they work to gather evidence.
The lawsuit alleges the unwanted sexual comments began in 2016, but the plea deal says it happened in 2018. According to the lawsuit, the school failed to address the teacher’s behavior towards the girl and other students for five years.
In court papers filed previously, school officials and Samuels denied any wrongdoing, but she admitted to indecent exposure in court in the week of March 27, according to the Advocate.
Once Samuels is released from prison, the judge says she must register as a sex offender and surrender her teaching certificate.
Our partners at The Advocate reached out to Samuels’ criminal defense attorney on Tuesday and St. James Parish School Board Superintendent Chris Kimball on Wednesday, but neither have replied for comment. Parish prosecutors and many people working on the case have also not responded.
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