A freshman girls basketball and softball coach from Apache Junction High School in Apache Junction, AZ has been arrested for sexual misconduct with one of her players.

Reanna Jewell, 25-years-old, is being held on $750,000 bond in the Pinal County Jail for inappropriate sexual conduct with one of her 16-year-old basketball players.  Ms. Jewell was arrested on March 29th after the girl’s mother had reported to the police three days prior that she had discovered suspicious text messages on her daughter’s cell phone.  The police launched an investigation and discovered there had indeed been sexual contact between the coach and her player, as well as texting, or “sexting” as it is known, of inappropriate images to the young player.

The relationship appears to have begin in December of 2008 and during that time there was enough evidence for a grand jury to indict Ms. Jewell on two counts each of sexual conduct with a minor and luring a minor for sexual exploitation. According to the East Valley Tribune, Ms. Jewell was employed with the school part-time from September 19th, 2008 through March 20th, 2009 when she resigned her position.

The timing of her resignation seems a bit odd as the mother apparently didn’t discover the text message until the 26th, so her resignation may have been unrelated.  A statement from the school says that during the hiring process that Ms. Jewell was fingerprinted and a background check was conducted, but nothing suspicious was discovered. Normally this is where I mention something about how the woman should have known better, or should have seen all the other stories out there in the press about teachers being caught doing this, but this time it is truly jaw dropping how she could have carried on with this.  ”Why?” you ask?  Well, you see, another female basketball coach at the very same school was arrested in January for the very same charges.

-waits for that to soak in-

Yes, another coach… at the same school… same charges. Jason Beck, a 24-year-old male, was a part-time coach to the girls basketball team.  He resigned from his job on January 13th, and was arrested on February 3rd on suspicion of one count each of sexual conduct with a minor and luring a minor for sexual exploitation.  In other words, the exact same charges that are being leveled at Ms. Jewell.  He was also hired around the same time as Ms. Jewell.  His crimes are said to stem from sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old player from his team and offering and/or soliciting oral sex to her via text messaging.

What makes me think this school has a problem with their hiring process?

This women now joins the roll call of teacher sex scandals for 2009!

• Christine McCallum, Boston, MA
• Lisa Lavoie, Holyoke, MA
• Christy Lynn Martin, St. Petersburg, FL
• Linda Nef and Valynne Bowers, Bountiful, UT
• Sarah L. Tolzien, Richton Park, IL
• Autumn Faulkner, Randolph County, WV
• Lindsay Massaro, Hackettstown, NJ
• Lauren Breslin, Vineland, NJ
• Kristina Anna Baeta, Union City, CA
• Jennifer Lea Burton, Orangefield, TX
• Tamara Hofmann, Chandler, AZ
• Jennifer Marie Collier, Jacksonville, FL
• Gina Marie Watring, Durham, NC
• Alison M. Peck, Greenfield, MO
• Maria Guman Hernandez, Hialeah, FL