A former Douglas County teacher was sentenced this month to more than a decade in prison after initiating a sexual relationship with a student in 2024, according to the sheriff’s office.
Tera Johnson-Swartz, a 45-year-old Castle Rock woman who taught at STEM School Highlands Ranch, took a deal and pleaded guilty to child sex exploitation in January. The deal dropped several other charges from her case, including second-degree kidnapping, sexual assault with a 10-year age difference, unlawful electronic sexual communication and sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, court records show.
Douglas County District Court Judge Ryan James Stuart sentenced Johnson-Swartz on March 12 to 14 years in prison, according to a .
“Douglas County has some of the finest teachers in Colorado. I know, because — like many parents in our community — I have entrusted my four kids to be taught by them,” District Attorney George Brauchler stated in the release. “This warning is coming from the DA and a parent: if a teacher in our community exploits their position of trust with our kids for their own lascivious desires, we will seek to change their life forever.”
Johnson-Swartz’s employment at the Highlands Ranch school ended on Feb. 14, 2025, after her relationship with the 16-year-old student was uncovered, sheriff’s officials said.
Johnson-Swartz would buy the student cigarettes and let the student “take a hit” off her marijuana pen, according to the grand jury indictment. Their relationship was discovered when the studentap phone was confiscated by their parents and the studentap mother found thousands of texts to and from the former teacher, many containing sexually explicit content, according to the indictment.
