A nominee for Colorado’s Teacher of the Year, Tera Johnson-Swartz, used drugs and music to prepare a 16-year-old pupil for sex, and she kept in touch with him after being fired and facing severe charges.
After being faced with two criminal cases, the married mother of three was sentenced to 14 years in jail. The first case was a grand jury inquiry into her relationship with the teen, and the second involved her continuing to contact him despite court orders not to.
According to an affidavit obtained by CBS News, the victim told police following her second arrest that she was a “unstable woman”:
“She is pretty stupid, I’m not gonna lie,”
According to Douglas County District Attorney George Brauchler, the former instructor at STEM School Highlands Ranch, which is west of Denver, is a “predator” and will have to “live with that label for decades.”
The affidavit revealed that in 2024, when the student was just 16 years old, she started texting and sharing music playlists. Before they began having intercourse, she purchased him cigarettes and allowed him to use her marijuana vape pen, according to the police.
Five months after Johnson-Swartz was selected one of seven candidates for Colorado’s Teacher of the Year Award, their relationship was discovered and reported to the police in January 2025.
Flip the pages for photos of Tera Johnson-Swartz.
