La. teacher accused of raping student expected to turn himself in

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) - A Louisiana high school gym teacher and athletic coach accused of raping a student has been fired and is expected to surrender to deputies after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The suspect, identified in an arrest warrant as Johnnie Butler, is facing a third-degree rape charge and an additional charge of prohibited sexual contact between an educator and student. He is a track coach and physical education instructor at Istrouma High School.

Judge Gail Ray signed the warrant Tuesday, WAFB reports.

The East Baton Rouge Parish School System said Wednesday it had “has terminated the employment” of Butler.

Deputies with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office interviewed Butler and a female student in addition to obtaining text messages between Butler and the student, according to the warrant. Deputies also obtained video from the school’s gym where the alleged incident happened, the warrant says.

The investigation began last Wednesday after the student reported the alleged non-consensual sex at a local hospital, according to the warrant. The student also provided investigators with text messages between her and Butler, which helped deputies get a clearer timeline into alleged inappropriate interactions with Butler.

In one message, Butler allegedly describes wanting to “lay” the student down to “get the full effect” after having trouble getting aroused because he was “hearing noises,” the warrant says.

Deputies wrote that messages from the day of the incident show Butler texted the student a location where she should meet him just before the incident happened. Deputies also matched the video with text messages to get a better idea of how the incident played out, according to the warrant.

The video shows the student enter the school’s gymnasium after Butler messages her that he has unlocked it, the warrant continues. The two leave the gym for about six minutes before he comes back into view of the camera, according to the warrant.

Butler exits the gym then messages the student that he would let her know when to leave, the warrant says.

In her interview, the student told investigators that Butler had “pushed her into a closet” and had sex with her without her permission, according to the warrant.

The student told deputies she “froze and could not say anything because she was in a state of shock,” the warrant says.

In his interview, Butler denied having sex with the student and said he did not remember sending the messages to her, the warrant says. He also allegedly admitted to deleting text messages between him and the student before being questioned, according to the warrant.

The deputy noted that Butler seemed to know exactly which case was being probed before investigators even mentioned the victim’s name and added that Butler said there was nothing strange about him deleting the messages.