Texas female high school teacher charged with sexual assault of student

Police announced in a Facebook post that Peña, who worked as a science teacher at Bishop High School in the Bishop Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), was "immediately placed on Administrative Leave by the school district and later resigned," after an official investigation was opened on January 23.

According to the Bishop Police Department, investigators obtained several search warrants for electronic devices and social media accounts, gathering enough evidence to charge the teacher with having an improper relationship between educator and student, indecency with a child, sexual assault of a child, online solicitation of a minor, and tampering with evidence.

"Peña was located and arrested at her residence without incident. She was later transported to the Nueces County Jail, where she remains on a $210,000.00 bond," the department added.

Bishop CISD Superintendent Christina Gutierrez, the district was unaware of the relationship and the report was not made by a staff member.

"I think that anytime there is a red flag that it should always be reported," she told 3 News. "Unfortunately, in this case, we didn't have any reports and quite honestly, the report came in was not even anyone from the staff itself. It was someone from the outside that came in and made a report and alleged inappropriate behavior, so it wasn't even our own staff or our own students [who] made the initial report."

However, according to an 18-year-old student, people at school already knew about the relationship.

"People were saying they knew about it since last year, and that it's been going on, and that a lot of people knew, but no one reported it and I was kind of surprised at something like this would happen," the high schooler told the outlet.

On Peña's bio page, which is still up on the Bishop CISD website, she wrote about how her parents, both educators, inspired her to become a teacher.

"Both of my parents have been educators for over 20 years, so I come from a family with an amazing teacher mom and a superb principal dad!," Peña said, adding that she "loves" teaching and "all things true crime."