TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Warning: The following story contains graphic descriptions and imagery.
A North Texas middle school teacher was arrested on a charge of sexual assault of a child this week, according to school officials and arrest records.
Northwest Independent School District officials confirmed to WFAA that one of its teachers, David Goggins, a Pike Middle School teacher, had been arrested by the Tarrant County Sherriff's Department.
Goggins was booked into the Tarrant County Jail and his bond was set at $250,000, court records showed. Goggins posted bond and was released, according to the jail records.
The alleged incident reportedly happened when Goggins worked at Marine Creek Middle School in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District, district police told WFAA. District officials said Goggins last worked in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw district in the 2021-22 school year.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by WFAA, the victim told forensic officials with the Tarrant County non-profit organization Alliance for Children that she was in eighth grade at Marine Creek Middle School when the assault happened. Per the affidavit, the victim said she let a friend borrow her jacket, then went to retrieve it from Goggins' math class after her friend left it in his classroom. The victim said Goggins was grading papers at his desk when she walked in to get her jacket, and that he began making small talk with her about his newborn baby, being tired, not getting much sleep and "needing to relieve some stress," according to the arrest affidavit.
The victim said Goggins then pushed her onto a desk and raped her for approximately 10 minutes, according to the arrest affidavit. The affidavit said the victim then ran out of the classroom, made it to her school bus, went home, showered and kept the incident to herself without alerting her parents, any school administrators or other authorities.
Investigators later corroborated the victim's story's details with two classmates who knew the victim, the affidavit said. Investigators also interviewed Goggins, who confirmed his employment with the school and timeline when he worked at Marine Creek Middle School, but "denied all allegations of sexual contact with student or any kind of inappropriate relationship," according to the affidavit.
District police said in a letter to Marine Creek Middle School families that "police are not seeking additional victims" and "no reports of misconduct were received while the person was employed in EMS ISD." The report was not made by the student until this year, officials said, when Goggins had already moved on to teach in Northwest ISD.
The Northwest ISD Pike Middle School principal said in a statement that the district "had no knowledge of the allegations at the time he was hired or while he was actively teaching in the district."
Northwest ISD immediately placed Goggins on administrative leave and denied him access to the school and any other district schools, the principal said in the letter.
More information about the case was not released.
Goggins' defense attorneys, Christy Jack, Letty Martinez, and Audrey Hatcher released the following statement on his behalf:
"David and his family were shocked by his arrest and the accusations against him. He has an exemplary record as a teacher and is highly regarded by his students and colleagues, who are equally baffled by these claims. We are conducting our own investigation in the hopes of uncovering the real motivation behind these allegations. We welcome the opportunity to defend David and would ask the public to withhold judgment until we have all the facts."
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