A former educator from Colorado and a finalist for the 2025 state Teacher of the Year award received a 14-year prison sentence for engaging in an illicit relationship with a student. Authorities report she continued to contact the student even after facing criminal charges.

Tera Johnson-Swartz, aged 45 and previously a writer and teacher at STEM School Highlands Ranch, admitted guilt to one count of child sexual exploitation and another count of cybercrime, as detailed by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office on March 19. The cybercrime charge related to her persistent communication with the student.

Allegations arose against Johnson-Swartz concerning her involvement with a 16-year-old student, first uncovered in January 2025 when the student’s parents discovered explicit text messages, according to The Denver Post.

Having been acknowledged as one of seven contenders for Colorado’s Teacher of the Year merely five months prior to the investigation, Johnson-Swartz faced charges in two distinct cases. The initial charge resulted from a grand jury investigation into the relationship early in 2025, while the second pertained to her ongoing contact with the student.

Tera Johnson-Swartz, who taught at STEM School Highlands Ranch, was convicted of improper relations with a student, resulting in a 14-year sentence. (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office)

According to local reports, the inappropriate relationship began with text messages and soon intensified. Johnson-Swartz allegedly provided the student with cigarettes, allowed him to use her marijuana vape pen, and eventually entered into a physical relationship.

She was reportedly suspended from the school once the allegations surfaced and was later fired and banned from campus.

Less than a month later, the involved student was caught on camera leaving campus and getting into a car that matched Johnson-Swartz’s vehicle, according to CBS. The teen reportedly admitted to investigators that his former teacher had picked him up and driven him to a nearby neighborhood.

The incident sparked an investigation, and in February 2025, detectives with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit arrested Johnson-Swartz on charges of kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection with an inappropriate relationship with a student.

STEM School Highlands Ranch is a charter school in Colorado. (Google Maps)

Johnson-Swartz secured a $100,000 bond with the assistance of a professional bondsman and was released the following day, the outlet said. 

However, over the Fourth of July weekend that year, authorities were alerted by the student’s parents, who reported that the two were still in contact, according to CBS.

The authorities arrested Johnson-Swartz in 2025 following allegations that Johnson-Swartz engaged in a sexual relationship with a student. (iStock)

The two reportedly encountered one another for two consecutive nights and Johnson-Swartz began calling and texting in the days that followed.

Johnson-Swartz was arrested again. In addition to her prison sentence, she was reportedly ordered to complete six years of sex offender probation after her release, which includes registering as a convicted sex offender.