Posted Monday, May. 16, 2011

BY CHANCE WELCH AND SHIRLEY JINKINS
cwelch@star-telegram.com, syjinkins@star-telegram.com

The sexually explicit text messages began April 20.

For about a week the teacher at Kennedale High School traded "sexts" with an 18-year-old student, and on April 26, after watching the Rangers lose to the Blue Jays, 10-3, he went to the teacher's house in Arlington, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Once there, the student and teacher, Brittni Nicole Colleps, had sex, setting off an erotic escapade that eventually would involve her having sex with four other students, including one act that was videotaped, according to the affidavit.

Colleps, 27, a mother of three whose husband is in the military and stationed outside the Metroplex, was arrested Monday on five counts of having an improper relationship with a student and taken to the Arlington Jail, where she was later released on $125,000 bail, Arlington police said.

All of the students involved are 18 or older, but it is a second-degree felony offense for teachers to have a sexual relationship with a student, according to Arlington police spokeswoman Tiara Richard.

Richard said there is no evidence to suggest her children were at the home when the acts occurred.

Colleps, an English teacher and coach at Kennedale High, told administrators in March that she was not going to teach next year, but Superintendent Gary Dugger said she was not being investigated by the district officials at that time.

"The first we heard of this was Tuesday night, then Wednesday morning we started looking into it, and Wednesday afternoon we turned it over to the police," Dugger said.

Dugger said that after Arlington police were contacted, Colleps was placed on administrative leave.

During their investigation, Arlington police detectives discovered a series of text messages between the teen and Colleps that were sexual in nature, Richard said. Some of the messages included sexually explicit photographs, Richard said.

The 18-year-old student told investigators that he had sex with Colleps on April 26 and also said he spent the night at her house and the following morning received a text message from her, saying she'd had fun.

He said that he and the four other teens had sex with Colleps on "multiple occasions" at her residence, the affidavit states.

On at least one occasion, all five students were in the same room at the time the sexual acts were taking place, according to the affidavit.

Video footage from the first teen's phone showing Colleps having sex with him May 10 -- and with other students in the room -- was taken as evidence, according to the affidavit.

Kennedale school district officials sent a letter home with students Monday, notifying parents of the situation and saying that the alleged acts took place off campus.

School district officials would not comment further because of district policy and educational privacy laws, the letter said.

Tarrant County records show that Colleps has been married for seven years. Richard said Colleps' husband was stationed at a military installation in the United States outside of the area.

Each charge against Colleps is a second-degree felony and carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to the Texas Penal Code.
Staff writer Domingo Ramirez Jr. contributed to this report.
Chance Welch, 817-390-7684; Shirley Jinkins, 817-390-7657


http://www.star telegram.com/2011/05/16/3079773/kennedale-teacher-accused-of-having.html#ixzz1Mef3Z9zE