DISD PD: Teacher paid student to keep quiet about relationship
DALLAS - Dallas ISD police say a middle school teacher was being blackmailed by a teenage student she was sleeping with.
Court documents show Thao “Sandy” Doan paid about $28,000 to the student after he threatened to tell police.
Doan taught math at Raul Quintanilla Senior Middle School in West Oak Cliff. She was arrested last Friday.
The mother of the teen says she tracked the source of some suspicious text messages to a teacher, who she had met many times at school events and who taught her son math when he was in the eighth grade last year.
The mom reported the texts to the school, which called Dallas ISD police and removed the teacher from class the same day.
Nidia wanted to speak about her son as long as FOX4 didn’t use her last name.
“This really changed my son,” she said. “This really turned my son into another person that he wasn't.”
Nidia says text messages, also quoted in court documents, tipped her off to her son's alleged blackmail of a teacher. She'd later learn the teacher is accused of having sex with her son when he was 14 years old.
“At times, he started getting into drugs, drinking, leaving the house. And he would probably get money and just leave the whole weekend,” Nidia said. “I wouldn't hear from him. I'd be out looking for him.”
Court documents say that Nidia reported the texts to school officials on January 10 and demanded that Doan stop giving her son money.
Police say a detective then interviewed Doan, who admitted to having sex with one of her students three separate times in 2015 and again last month.
A search warrant affidavit added Doan confirmed the student received an image of her exposing her breasts and that the two engaged in explicit texting. She also told police she began receiving demands for cash in exchange for the student's silence beginning last New Year’s Day.
Police say Doan withdrew money from her bank and took out payday loans to the tune of an estimated $28,000.
‘She did very bad. She did bad,” Nidia said. “And I'm not condoning what he did because I know he was wrong at what he also did because blackmailing is not acceptable.”
Nidia says she believes her son, who is now 15 years old, used the money on drugs. She admits that her son was wrong but says an adult should have known better.
“I mean this is very hurtful because he's a victim here, and he was the child,” Nidia said. “He is the child. He's still a child. But it hurts me because I’ve been through a lot with him.”
Nidia says her son has been in and out of the juvenile system on burglary and robbery charges not related to this case. She believes the most recent payment was $1,500 the day before Nidia reported the text messages to the school.
Doan bonded out of jail on the day after she was arrested. She is facing a felony charge of improper relationship between an educator and student. According to DISD, she is on administrative leave.