Teacher Fired For Reporting Sexual Allegations At Hilltop Baptist
A teacher who reported the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy by another teacher was fired by Hilltop Baptist School, according to court records obtained by TARGET 13.
Former math teacher Laurie Sutton told detectives that teacher Terah Rawlings was having sexual relations with one of her students.
Investigators with the El Paso County Sheriff?s office said Rawlings had a relationship with the unnamed teen from 2007 to 2008.
A grand jury indicted Rawlings and charged her with four counts of sexual assault on a child while in a position of trust, four counts of alleged pattern of the same crime, and one count of promoting obscenity.
Her father, Allen Knight and her uncle, Senior Pastor Wayne Knight, were also indicted by the grand jury.
Wayne Knight was arrested and charged with Failure to Report Child Abuse and Accessory to a Crime.
Allen Knight and former principal, Jan Ocvrik, were arrested and charged with Failure to Report Child Abuse or Neglect.
According to the Sheriff?s Office, Rawlings had sex with the boy during the 2007-2008 school year, and during the following summer until he broke off the relationship.
Sutton claimed she was fired a month after reporting the crime.
As a school employee, Sutton was actually required by Colorado law to report such an incident.
Her attorney, John Torbet, told TARGET 13 that Sutton did the right thing only to meet dismissal.
?Looks like there must have been evidence of the administration failing to report this when they occurred,? Torbet said, speaking about the grand jury indictment.
Sutton claimed the school, now closed down, told students and teachers that she left voluntarily because of dishonesty, but court records state she feels that is ?false and slanderous.?
Her husband, Dustin, was a volunteer coach at Hilltop, is also suing the school.
In January school sent TARGET 13 a written statement about the allegations,? There is absolutely no evidence of any wrong doing. Both parties involved, as well as the student?s parents, agree this is absurd and deny anything inappropriate took place.?
TARGET 13?s Tak Landrock stopped by the home of senior pastor Wayne Knight to see if he still stands behind the statement provided earlier this year, but he didn?t answer his door.
A man outside Hilltop Baptist told KRDO NEWSCHANNEL 13?s Mireya Garica that the church would have a statement down the road after consulting with an attorney. The man who didn?t want to give his name declined further comment.
