A former Wichita public schools math teacher charged with sexually touching one of her seventh-grade students has pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child, Sedgwick County District Court records show.
Christin N. Covel, 32, is facing more than five years in prison when she is sentenced on May 12 by District Judge Seth Rundle, as reported by The Wichita Eagle.
'You Spending Time with Him...Wanting Him. Not Wanting Me'
Wichita police say Covel sexually abused the then 13-year-old girl in her classroom at Mead Middle School, 2601 E. Skinner, during and after school and on at least one field trip in 2018 and 2019.
She also exchanged nearly 10,000 Snapchat messages with the student and reportedly viewed herself and the girl as lovers, according to her arrest affidavit.
In one message mentioned in the affidavit, Covel appeared to guilt the girl for spending time with a boy, writing: "you spending time with him. Hugging him. Kissing him. Sending him stuff. Recess. Lunch. Classes. Forgetting about me. Wanting him. Not wanting me."
Covel was Arrested After Student Disclosed the Abuse During Therapy
Authorities arrested Covel last year after the girl disclosed the abuse in a therapy session when she was 16 — well after Covel had moved on from her teaching position at Mead, which she held from 2015 until July 2020. She was working for Thomas Edison Preparatory Middle & High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the time of her January 2022 arrest.
Prosecutors, who plan to ask the judge to order a 68-month prison sentence, originally charged Covel with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under 14 and one count of unlawful sexual relations. Those charges were amended or dropped as part of her Feb. 9 plea deal.
