A former Wichita public school math teacher accused of sexually touching a seventh-grade student groomed and abused the girl during and after school and on at least one field trip, according to an arrest affidavit released earlier this year was released by a Sedgwick County judge.
Christin N. Covel and the girl also exchanged nearly 10,000 messages via Snapchat, including some that discussed the teacher’s fantasies of abuse, police determined.
Covel, 31, is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under 14 and one count of unlawful sexual relations in connection with the alleged assaults, which reportedly took place when the girl was 13 and a student at Mead Middle school was. Covel had worked as a math teacher at the school before transferring to one in Tulsa. authorities verhaftete Covel in Tulsa im Januar u extradited them to Wichita to pursue criminal charges after the girl spoke about the abuse in a recent therapy session, the affidavit said.
Covel’s attorney did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment Monday.
At the session where the allegations surfaced, the girl told a Wichita police detective, Chris Zandler, that her teacher — Covel — viewed their involvement as a “lover relationship,” the affidavit said.
The girl described Covel as “sensitive” and said she would send her messages through Snapchat “about them doing inappropriate things,” according to the document.
The girl revealed the conversations and face-to-face interactions, which included inappropriate touching, lasted for most of her seventh year when she was 13. She was 16 when she disclosed the abuse last fall.
The girl told authorities if Covel wanted to see her more often; In December 2018, she began helping clean the teacher’s classroom, the affidavit said.
Just before Christmas that year, another teacher came to them while some of the illegal touching was taking place, the girl told authorities.
The abuse continued and Covel reportedly became physically more courageous after the Christmas break, according to the affidavit.
In April 2019, during a field trip to a college campus, Covel sat next to the girl and attempted to pet her on the bus ride, the affidavit said, the girl told authorities. But the girl slipped away so Covel couldn’t reach her.
Covel first contacted the girl through the social media chat application Snapcat in the summer of 2018, when the girl was preparing to enter seventh grade. Another detective who analyzed the girl’s phone found at least 9,969 Snapchat messages exchanged with Covel, including ones in which the teacher talked about cuddling the girl during a movie and apologized, according to the affidavit for abusing her.
In a May 3, 2020 message cited in the affidavit, Covel appears to be trying to blame the girl for appearing to have been hanging out with a boy, writing, “You’re hanging out with him. hug him. kiss him send him things. recess. Having lunch. classes. Forget me. want him. don’t want me.”
Covel’s next court hearing is March 30, records show. She is currently out on bail while awaiting resolution of her case. A Sedgwick County judge has banned her from having contact with a child under the age of 18 “without the presence of an authorized, responsible adult,” according to their bond terms.
Covel was a math teacher at Mead Middle School from 2015 to July 2020. She was employed at Thomas Edison Preparatory Middle & High School in Tulsa when she was arrested, The Eagle previously reported.
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