AP: Texas

10/06/2005

Associated Press

A suspended elementary school teacher accused of molesting a teenager in Chaparral has been arrested after trying to visit her jailed husband, whom she had been forbidden to contact.

Donna McKnight, 53, of El Paso, Texas, was arrested Wednesday on an outstanding warrant accusing her of failing to post bond, Las Cruces police Officer Carlos Wooten said. She was arrested as she tried to visit her husband at the Dona Ana County Detention Center.

A Dona Ana County grand jury indicted her last month on charges of criminal sexual penetration, criminal sexual contact of a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and conspiracy to commit to the delinquency of a minor.

McKnight is on paid leave as a second-grade teacher at Vista Hills Elementary School in El Paso.

She also faces a charge of indecency with a child by exposure in El Paso.

Her husband, Ronald, 49, is charged with bribery of a witness, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, conspiracy to commit contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

The charges stem from allegations that Donna McKnight sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in Chaparral on Aug. 7 and exposed herself to him in Texas while driving back to El Paso. Ronald McKnight allegedly tried to bribe the boy to silence him.

Donna McKnight had been released on a $50,000 bond, but the bond was raised to $150,000. She then was arrested in El Paso and posted a $50,000 bond there, but never posted the additional bond required in New Mexico, Assistant District Attorney Amy Orlando said.

The McKnights were banned from contacting each other, so Wednesday's jail visit violated Donna McKnight's conditions of release, Orlando said.