Former Kansas teacher accused of having illicit sex with student, 17

A former Kansas high school art teacher will stand trial on four criminal counts accused of having illicit sex with an underage student, a judge determined this week.

Nicole Hernandez30, appeared in court on Tuesday, December 2, after being charged with four counts of unlawful sexual relations with a student, KAKE.com reported.

Hernandez, also known as “Nikki Baird“He was arrested back on May 22, but had his first appearance in court last month, according to Wichita Eagle.

He no longer teaches art at Wichita North High School, where the victim — a 17-year-old boy — was a student.

Wichita police began searching for Hernandez on May 19 after receiving a tip about a specific Instagram post that claimed the married teacher had an “inappropriate relationship” with a former Wichita school district student.

The EagleCiting an affidavit in the matter, the school was made aware of Hernandez’s alleged behavior during the 2023-2024 school year, and the matter was handled internally. The affidavit does not include information about the outcome of that investigation.

Administrators contacted Hernandez in May after learning she was being investigated, and she reportedly “admitted … that she had gotten too close to a student” and had “crossed boundaries.” Eagle.

She initially claimed that she had an emotional relationship with the boy that began after he graduated high school. But each of the four crimes he was charged with dated before the student’s graduation, the paper reported.

She claimed that things with Kishore were never physical.

But the student, now an adult, told investigators otherwise. He raised her during her sophomore, junior and senior years of high school, she claimed. “She described how she befriended him, then isolated him from others,” the affidavit states. Eagle.

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She then began “touching or rubbing his back or shoulders” and soon began asking him to hug her. The student claimed he spent too much time alone with the teacher, and they began texting each other. Hernandez “messaged her about how her marriage was struggling,” the affidavit read. One of the letters he reportedly wrote to her was “I hope and pray that one day I will have the chance to be with you” and ‘I know I love you.’

When he was a senior, and the two were spending time together at a local arts center, she allegedly grabbed his hand and held it. Back at the school, Hernandez allegedly kissed the boy on the neck.

Hernandez later arranged for them to meet after school, and “kept asking her if she wanted to kiss him,” the affidavit alleges. Eagle Reported. “He said he was nervous and finally said ‘yes’.” Hernandez told the boy to keep the interaction private.

The touch continued and became more intimate. Then, before he graduated, Hernandez asked the boy to his office, where he asked him to touch her body. Hours after his graduation ceremony, Hernandez arranged to meet the student in a random neighborhood, and the boy “felt pressured” to have sex with him in the back seat of her Jeep.

Hernandez allegedly told the teenage victim that what they were doing was legal, because he had graduated. After weeks of sexual harassment, Hernandez began sending nude photos of herself to the boy. Eagle Reported.

As time passed, the teenager broke off contact with the teacher after realizing his “relationship with her”. [her] was inappropriate and manipulated by him [Hernandez]”, according to the affidavit.

The Eagle reported that cops claimed he met the teen at his workplace and left candy in his car while parked in his driveway. That scared the teen, who told his parents, and later shared the nude photos with investigators, according to the affidavit.

Hernandez was released from jail on $50,000 bond and is scheduled to return to court on July 28. Attempts to reach his attorney for comment were unsuccessful Friday.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).