PASADENA, Texas – A former Pasadena Independent School District substitute teacher arrested Tuesday on two counts of indecency with a child and one count of improper relationship between an educator and a student was in court Wednesday morning.
Joshua Lewis worked for the district from March 2017 to October 2018. He served at least one day on 47 of Pasadena ISD's campuses.
According to investigators, Lewis was fired over allegations of inappropriately touching female students, saying he would pretend to have a crush on the girls and call them up individually to touch them.
Lewis went before a judge, where his bond was set at $100,000 for each of the three charges totaling $300,000.
VIDEO: Former Pasadena ISD substitute appears in court
"The defendant admitted that he comes from a ‘touchy-feely’ family and his dad warned him not to touch the other students,” prosecutors said. “The defendant denied touching the students’ breasts or vaginas, but the defendant did admit to touching them, including on the leg, the top of their head and giving them side hugs."
The judge also ruled that Lewis cannot have any contact with or be within 200 feet of where they are, and he has to surrender his firearm. The order is effective for 61 days starting Wednesday.
Earlier this month, a district spokesperson told KPRC that the allegation includes touching the girls' backs, shoulders and legs.
When the allegations surfaced, one parent said her 9-year-old daughter described much more graphic violations. We are not identifying the mother in an effort to protect the identity of the child.
"(On) Thursday, he would rub her in her private parts. (On) Friday, he put his hand inside her shirt, squeezed her boobs, touched her but tried to put (his) hand inside (her) pants," the mother said.
The mother said her daughter told her the teacher made all of the students in the class line up against a wall. He then told the boys to "not look" and pulled the girls aside, one by one.