GRANT COUNTY, IN — This from fox59.com: A substitute teacher has been accused of battering students at an elementary school in Fairmount.
Public records indicate a warrant was issued for the arrest of Debra Joyce Carter on Friday. That warrant was reportedly served on Monday.
Carter has been charged with two counts of battery of a person less than 14 years old and one count of official misconduct. All three of the charges she faces are Level 6 Felonies.
According to an affidavit for probable cause filed on Friday, police’s investigation of Carter began on May 8. On that date, officers with the Fairmount Police Department were called to Park Elementary School to look into a report that suggested a substitute teacher battered multiple students.
When police arrived at the school, they spoke with two administrators. Officers also talked to the parents of the students implicated in the case. Those parents reported Carter had grabbed their children’s faces and poked one student’s stomach.
In an interview with police, Carter maintained that she did not touch any of the children while she was subbing at Park Elementary. She added that she may have inadvertently brushed up against one of her students. Carter also admitted that she had yelled at a class to try to get them to quiet down.
Law enforcement spoke with the students implicated in the case during their investigation. Those students said that Carter had pinched their classmates’ faces at recess. The children also described Carter as “mean” and “rude.”
Per court documents, the children accused Carter of pushing one student’s glasses up and saying “look at me.” The student also told police that Carter would ring a loud bell when they were in school. The children reported that, at times, they would cover their ears because Carter was ringing the bell so loudly that their ears would hurt.
The most serious of the accusations brought against Carter is related to an incident where she closed her fist and struck a student in the stomach with the back of her hand. Police reported that the student had scarring from a recent surgery in the area of their stomach that Carter allegedly hit.
Court records also indicate that students approached a school administrator about Carter’s alleged transgressions. The students reported that the administrator in question heard their concerns about Carter ringing the bell too loudly. That administrator, however, dismissed the students before they had a chance to report that Carter had struck a student in the stomach.
Bond was set at $1,000 cash in Carter’s case. That bond was posted and entered by the Grant County Clerk’s Office on Monday.
An initial hearing has been set for June 12 in Carter’s case. The maximum penalty for a Level 6 Felony like the ones Carter faces is a 2.5-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $10,000.
Park Elementary is part of the Madison-Grant United School Corporation. FOX59/CBS4 reached out to MGUSC for a statement on Carter’s arrest but did not hear back.