A 39-year-old married former high school gym teacher in Rhode Island has been indicted on two counts of third-degree sexual assault following allegations of inappropriate conduct with a former student, including sexting, kissing and physical contact.
Alisha Crins, who taught physical education at Ponaganset High School in Glocester, faces the felony charges after a Providence County grand jury returned the indictment Feb. 27, according to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office.
The alleged incidents occurred between April 1 and June 30, 2024, involving a male student who was 17 at the start and had turned 18 by later points. The student was in Crins’ class as a sophomore and graduated in the spring of 2025. He filed a formal complaint with Rhode Island State Police in October 2025, prompting a criminal investigation by state police and the attorney general’s office.
Court documents and police accounts detail that Crins allegedly obtained the student’s phone number online and initiated contact with flirty messages. The communication escalated to sexually explicit texts, naked photos and videos — including images of Crins in lingerie sent when the student was 17 and nude photos after he turned 18.
The allegations include two instances of kissing and one occasion where Crins straddled the student in the back of his car, engaging in sexual contact and kissing for nearly 15 minutes. Authorities said Crins invited the student to her home in Cranston, where she reportedly said, “I can’t believe I’m going to do this … You can’t tell anybody,” before kissing him. Follow-up texts praised him as a “good kisser” and said she couldn’t stop thinking about his lips. The two discussed having sex once he was a legal adult but did not proceed further, according to reports.
Crins admitted to detectives that she sent explicit photos, engaged in kissing and discussed a potential sexual relationship after the student turned 18, but denied the relationship became fully physical beyond the described contact. She later told the student to stop messaging her because of her position as his teacher and her marriage.
Crins resigned from the Foster-Glocester Regional School District on Oct. 1, 2025, after the complaint surfaced. Superintendent Dr. Renee Palazzo previously confirmed the former employee’s departure and said the district was cooperating with authorities.
Crins was charged Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. She is scheduled for arraignment March 18 in Providence County Superior Court.
The case highlights ongoing concerns about teacher-student boundaries in schools. Crins is married to another educator, Jeffrey Crins, a former “Teacher of the Year” honoree whom she met while both worked in the physical education department at North Smithfield High School.
No plea has been entered, and the charges remain allegations at this stage. The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office and state police are continuing the investigation.
Flip the pages for photos of Mrs. Crins.
