Former Teacher Who Sexually ‘Preyed’ On Underage Teens Sentenced To 20 Years

A Texas teacher who ordered two underage students to perform sexual acts in her presence was slapped with 20-year prison sentence, prosecutors said. 

Leticia Lowery, 40, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault of a child and first-degree sexual performance of a child earlier this month, court records show.

She had been accused of carrying out a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student, as well as ordering the teen’s girlfriend to perform oral sex on the boy while she watched, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Oxygen.com. 

“Lowery preyed on our community’s most vulnerable and has demonstrated her sexual interest in children,” Montgomery County assistant district attorney Laura Bond said in a statement. “She violated children to satisfy her own selfish desires and this sentence reflects this community’s intolerance for child sexual offenders.” 

Leticia Lowery Photo: Montgomery County Sheriff's Office

Bond said the plea deal spared Lowery’s alleged victims the potential trauma of reliving the sexual assaults in court. 

“It prevented the children involved that she victimized and sexually assaulted from having to testify and I think that’s a win all day,” she told KPRC-TV. “I think oftentimes when people hear about offenses that are committed by a female against a male child, people tend to minimize it but the effect on the child is still the same.”

In November 2019, the teenage boy’s mother, “concerned that there was something inappropriate going on” with her son and his girlfriend, approached detectives, the complaint stated. She was told to monitor her son’s phone.

The day after her son’s 15th birthday, the woman found “sexual” text messages on his phone from Lowery, the complaint stated. The teenager later admitted to have sex with Lowery a few days earlier on a couch at the teacher’s home in Pinehurst. 

Previously, Lowery had ordered the teen’s girlfriend to perform sexual acts on the then 14-year-old in a van while she watched.

“[The victim] stated the defendant called [his girlfriend] up to her and told her to give [him] a ‘blow job,’ or perform oral sex on him, in the vehicle while she watched,” the complaint added.

The 40-year-old Texas teacher was arrested on Nov. 6, 2019. 

"When people hear of an older woman sexually assaulting a male child, they often fail to fully appreciate the long-term, painful consequences of these actions," Mike Holley, first assistant district attorney, told Oxygen.com. "Leticia Lowery brought pain to some and sought to bring misery to others because of her overwhelming, irrepressible selfishness. With this plea, we can achieve some measure of accountability, and we can certainly stop Lowery from preying on others." 

The disgraced educator worked as a teacher and private tutor in Montgomery County for a number of years, prosecutors said.  

At the time of her arrest, Lowery had been out on bond related to separate charges of online solicitation of a minor in Harris County, additional court records show. In May 2019, Lowery was taken into custody after she allegedly exchanged text messages with a student under the age of 17 with the intent of engaging in “sexual contact,” a separate criminal complaint obtained by Oxygen.com stated. 

Lowery was arraigned on Jan. 9, additional further documents stated. The case was still pending; she hasn’t yet entered a plea, according to the 262nd District Court.

“When a defendant commits a sexually related offense against a minor at the same time they are facing felony charges in another county for similar conduct, you can be assured that the only thing that will stop them is a lengthy prison term,” District Attorney Brett Ligon added. “Fortunately, we were able to do just that in this case.”

Lowery’s court-appointed attorney, Robbie Barker, didn’t return phone calls requesting comment on Wednesday.