A STEM School Highlands Ranch teacher allegedly kissed a student and gave them marijuana and cigarettes, according to a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit.
Castle Rock resident Tera Johnson-Swartz, 44, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree kidnapping, a felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor, on Thursday.
The student met Johnson-Swartz at while she was their teacher and she later gave the student her phone number and the two began texting, according to the affidavit.
The name, age and gender of the student victim was redacted from the affidavit because they are a minor.
Over the course of three weeks in December and January, Johnson-Swartz and the student exchanged around 2,400 texts and met up in her car. Johnson-Swartz bought the student cigarettes and let them use her marijuana vape pen. At one point they kissed, investigators wrote in the affidavit.
Their texts also involved “more intimate discussions” and Johnson-Swartz sent the student pictures of her at a club. She frequently told the student to delete their messages, and when the two met in Johnson-Swartz’s car, they discussed how what they were doing was wrong and that they should wait until the student was an adult.
At one point after Johnson-Swartz had been put on administrative leave, she picked the student up from STEM school and drove them around while talking about the police investigation and Johnson-Swartz’s “life plans.”
She did not have permission from the studentap parents to take them off campus, Douglas County investigators wrote.
An attorney for Johnson-Swartz could not immediately be reached for comment.
Johnson-Swartz was put on administrative leave on Jan. 21 after STEM School Highlands Ranch officials were told about the investigation by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Her employment ended Feb. 14, but the school has declined to say whether she resigned or was fired.
According to a since-deleted post on Douglas County School District’s website, Johnson-Swartz was one of seven finalists for the 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year award from the state Department of Education.
She is in custody at the Douglas County Jail on a $50,000 bail and is set to appear in court Wednesday for a filing of charges hearing, according to court records.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to add that Johnson-Swartz was a finalist for the 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year.
