Teacher Indicted for Assaulting Young Student

SAN ANGELO, TX- A San Angelo woman has been indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury for intentionally and knowingly causing bodily injury to a student in her class.

According to court documents, the investigator spoke with the mother of the victim, who told him that she had received a voicemail from Justice Thomas, a teacher at Trinity Lutheran Early Childhood Center, about the victim’s behavior in the classroom.

Thomas did not recall leaving a voicemail for the victim’s mother.

The mother then made the school administration aware of the voicemail and later told them that Thomas had yelled at, pushed, and pulled her child up by the arm. The administration would not let the victim’s mother view video surveillance of the incident, but they did complete a Child Protective Services Report.

On March 30, 2021, the investigator went to the Trinity Lutheran Early Childhood Center, located at 3516 Lutheran way and watched surveillance video from the 4-year-old classroom where Thomas taught.

Clips that were dated March 24th, 2021, showed Thomas yelling at the child victim in the early morning hours while other students were testing in Thomas’ classroom. Later in the video, Thomas told the child that law enforcement was going to arrest the victim and take her to jail. The victim then threw a pencil case down.

Thomas walked around her desk then pushed the child victim to the ground. She then forcefully picks the child up, shoves the pencil case into the victim’s torso, and begins walking the child the door of the classroom.

When in the hallway leading to the classroom, Thomas grabs the victim by the right arm, forcefully jerked the child up, and then forcefully pulling the child back towards the main area of the classroom.

The child victim is seen swinging in the air.

Thomas then tells the child to “go” and the victim walks back to the desk holding her right arm. Then, Thomas commanded the child to go into a closet in the classroom, which Thomas closes the door without the light on for about 40 seconds, then opens the door.

Thomas kneels and continues to yell at the victim. At one point, it sounds as if Thomas hit the child, but it is not seen because the door to the closet is blocking the view. On April 5, 2021, during an interview with investigators, the child victim said Thomas had hurt her by pinching her arm and hitting her in the face.

Throughout the entire event, the victim is crying, screaming for her parents, and pleading with Thomas. Also, there were twelve other students in the classroom who witnessed the event.

On April 6, 2021, the investigator interviewed Thomas who said she did not remember assaulting the child and believed that she had some type of medical issue that caused her aggression and memory loss.

Investigators reviewed Thomas’ medical records and did not observe any medical conditions that would affect her mental state.

Justice Thomas was booked into the TGCDF on April 13, 2021, and was released on April 14, 2021, on $5,000.00 bond.