Photo: Pulaski County Sheriff's Office
A 26-year-old teacher is accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy she met at an Arkansas church that was long attended by former President Bill Clinton, TVH11 reports.
Reagan Gray was arrested earlier this month for an incident that allegedly took place in 2020 when she was working as a volunteer at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, according to court documents. The boy's parents reportedly found numerous text messages on their son's phone and reported Gray, who also worked as a teacher at Little Rock Christian Academy, to a senior pastor at the church.
Gray was briefly removed from her volunteer position and underwent counseling after claiming that nothing "physical" took place. Authorities began investigating Gray in February after it was discovered that she had still been exchanging messages with the teenager via Snapchat, according to court documents.
The boy told authorities that Gray had performed oral sex but claimed they never had sexual intercourse so he could "stay pure," documents stated. The alleged abuse was reported to have occurred nearly a dozen times inside Gray's apartment or car, according to the teenager.
A church leader also revealed in a subsequent interview with the FBI that Gray confessed to a sexual relationship with the boy during a counseling session that took place last year. It wasn't immediately clear if the church leader, who resigned from his position due to his handling of the allegations earlier this month, or the teenager's parents had alerted investigators about the alleged abuse.
Gray, who currently works at Sylvan Hills Middle School, was placed on administration leave in February during the ongoing investigation and charged with sexual assault after an arrest warrant was issued, but released on a $20,000 bond.
Clinton attended Immanuel Baptist Church while living in Little Rock prior to his 1992 presidential campaign and thanked the congregation during a morning service prior to his 1993 inauguration, claiming he "would be less prepared for the job" had he not attended the church, according to a Los Angeles Times report at the time.