An alleged sexual relationship between an algebra teacher in Tennessee and a 16-year-old student was exposed by the teen after the female educator refused to pay him $140, records show.
The records, obtained Wednesday by WHBQ, include screenshots of nearly 240 text messages between Jasmine Edmonds, 24, and an unidentified teen she previously taught at Trezevant High School in Memphis. One of the messages detailed how the teen turned on Edmonds once she apparently refused to pay him to keep quiet about their illicit romps, setting him off and warning the teacher she’d be exposed.
“You Said We Had A Bet & If You Lie Our Little Secret Going To Be Out There,” the message read, according to a screenshot obtained by the station. “That’s Not A Threat It’s A Promise.”
The teen’s message, which was sent at 9:30 p.m., continued: “Then You Not Trying To Answer Or Text Back I Got Proof of Everything So 140 Tomorrow Or Your Career Over On My Grandma.”
The unidentified teen, according to the station, was expelled from the school in March for throwing rocks at Edmonds’ car and texting with his teacher. Other records released Wednesday by Tennessee’s State Board of Education also included a statement from the high school’s basketball coach indicating he saw Edmonds waiting for the teen after practice. The coach assumed Edmonds was giving the teen rides home, WHBQ reports.
The teen’s mother also provided a written statement to school officials acknowledging that she invited Edmonds to her house for Thanksgiving because the teacher didn’t have any relatives of her own. She also added that she “didn’t have any knowledge” of her son and the teacher dating, but wanted steps taken if that was indeed the case.
Some of the 60 pages of documents released Wednesday date as far back as February 2018, WHBQ reports.
But Edmonds, who now faces two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, was not indicted until November. She remains free after posting $50,000 bond last week, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports.
The alleged sex acts between Edmonds and the teen took place at her apartment in Raleigh, a suburb of Memphis, according to the newspaper.
Messages seeking comment from school and state education officials, including when district staffers first learned of the allegations, were not immediately returned Thursday.