DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — A former STEM Highlands Ranch teacher, who was a 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year finalist, was sentenced to over a decade in prison for sexually exploiting a 16-year-old male student, the 23rd Judicial District said Thursday.
A Douglas County judge gave the former teacher, Tera Johnson-Swartz, 45, 14 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections after she pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and one count of a felony cybercrime.
Investigators say that in early 2024, Johnson-Swartz initiated contact with the victim by first sending him music and then following up with text messages.
The victim’s parents told investigators that they found deleted texts between the juvenile and Johnson-Swartz that contained about 2,400 messages and confronted the juvenile about it.
In several of the messages, Johnson-Swartz told the juvenile to delete the texts, according to an arrest affidavit.
She then met the student off campus, with investigators stating these meetings began in early 2025.
During these meetings, she provided cigarettes and, according to a news release from the 23rd Judicial District, sexually assaulted him during multiple encounters.
The victim told investigators that he had known Johnson-Swartz for about 1.5 years and had been in a small class led by her.
She was arrested in February 2025, after which additional charges—including sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust—were later added.
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