Substitute Teacher Accused of Soliciting Sex from Student

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

DUNCAN, Oklahoma -- A substitute teacher accused of soliciting sex from a student could be facing additional charges. An attorney for the victim said the sub did more than just send graphic text messages to the 15-year-old.

The family said what happened to their daughter should be a lesson learned for all school districts in Oklahoma.

"They put someone with a criminal history in charge of a group of students at an alternative school," said attorney Gary Higginbotham.

Higginbotham said what happened inside Edge Academy in Duncan was a perfect storm. The attorney is representing a student who said she was the target of a substitute teacher.

"As a result of that, my client is a young lady who will be paying this price for the rest of her life," Higginbotham said.

Currently, Erwin Eugene Johnson is charged with two counts of making a lewd proposal to a child, but Higginbotham said there's more to it.

"My client was the victim of what I have deemed to be a kidnapping and sexual assault," the victim's attorney said.

What may be more shocking is the victim and other girls told Higginbotham the 24-year-old sub wasn't alone. They say one of his buddies would go into the school to help scope out girls.

"In my conversations with the detectives, I feel confident they know who this individual is," Higginbotham said.

Higginbotham said the victim's family is furious that the school hired a man who has a criminal past, but at the time, the district only required state background checks for its substitutes. Johnson is a convicted felon from Washington State.

"They chose to do a statewide only check when a nationwide check was available. There by subjecting all these students to the possibility of having a teacher with a criminal history such as this one," said Higginbotham.

Duncan's Superintendent has said the district will now require national background checks on both substitutes and its teachers.

Higginbotham said the family is considering legal action against the school district.

The lewd proposal charges Johnson faces stem from the explicit text messages Johnson allegedly sent the girl. He's in jail on a $25,000 bond.