43-Year-Old HIV Positive Teacher Admits Having Sex With Teen
MCKINNEY (CBSDFW.COM) - A North Texas teacher, who is HIV positive, was caught leaving the home of a 15-year-old boy. Police say when Roger "Joe" Kessler was questioned and he admitted having a sexual relationship with the teen. Now Kessler is charged with sexual assault of a child.
The details from his arresting documents are disturbing and have both law enforcement and Richardson ISD officials on alert.
Kessler is a music teacher at Richardson ISD Academy. The 43-year-old is the man police say admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old boy, at least four times. And authorities say the sexual acts were performed without Kessler telling the teen he has HIV.
McKinney police say they were called to a home in the 1300 block of Gough Street on Wednesday. While authorities were responding to a burglary in progress, they arrived to Kessler being detained by the homeowner.
Apparently the teenager's mother had arrived home and thought her home had been burgled, because she saw a man leaving her backyard.
Further investigation revealed Kessler was trying to run away from the house where he admitted to having just had a sexual encounter with the teen.
Court documents detail how Kessler and the15-year-old met using a smart phone application called Grindr. The app bills itself as a "popular all-male location-based social network," but is known as a place for men looking for sex to connect.
According to police documents, Kessler even logged on to Grindr and showed officers at the scene a series of text messages he had exchanged with the teen.
Joann Jordan lives next door to Kessler in Allen. "I am shocked," she said.
Jordan said the accusations are stunning and don't fit the man she describes as a good neighbor.
Speaking of Kessler she said, "Very nice guy. I knew he was a teacher. He seemed very compassionate about his job."
Richardson ISD officials say the sexual assault charge doesn't involve an RISD Academy student or any child in their school district.
The administration has put Kessler on paid leave and released a statement that said, in part, -
"Kessler has been a music teacher in RISD for 14 years, all at RISD Academy, with no history of complaints of this nature."
Jordan said she just can't believe the accusations. "I'm just shocked. I won't believe it until they find him guilty I guess. It's just bizarre."
Kessler remains in the Collin County Jail on the felony charge. His bond has been set at $250,000.
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