A former Washington DC school librarian has been arrested with sexually assaulting one of her teen students for years including repeatedly having sex with the boy in her van. Although the sexual assaults happened between 2009 and 2014, it came to light recently following which the teacher was arrested last week.
Joan Meyer, 45, was arrested on Friday from her home in Warrensville Heights, Ohio, and charged with first-degree child sexual abuse. The male victim also mentioned in his complaint that some of the sexual encounters took place in the teacher's home where she would regularly pile him with marijuana and alcohol.
Easy Prey
According to police, the sexual abuse took place between 2009 and 2014, when Meyer was in her 30s and worked as a librarian at Two Rivers public Charter School in Northeast DC. The male victim was only 14 years old add that time. The victim, who is 24 years old now in his complaint has claimed that he came in contact with Meyer first in 2007, when he was 12 years old.
The two bonded over books and music but their relationship gradually started taking a wild turn in 2009, when Meyer regularly started having sex with him. The sexual encounters would take place in Meyer's van and also in her house and continued till the boy turned 19 in 2014.
The accuser, identified in the document only as Z.J., Meyer's husband caught him inside the couple's home on two separate occasions. He also claimed that the teacher plied him with alcohol and marijuana. In between, his grades suffered because of his relationship with the teacher and he would also struggle to form meaningful relationships with his peers as Meyer "would get jealous."
End of a Strange Relationship
Z.J. said he broke up with Meyer in 2014 but tried to get in touch with her once again in 2018, seeking to get back together, only to finally sever terms with her last year. Meyer's trouble with the law stems from a June 2019 report about her from a mandated reporter — the principal at Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington.
The victim had reportedly sent a number of emails to the principal stating that his teacher at the Washington school, now an Ohio resident, had sex with him while he was in junior high school. Investigators learnt from court records that Meyer had been investigated for abusing the same student twice earlier in 2010 and 2012. However, both investigations were closed due to lack of evidence after both Meyer and Z.J. had denied the claims.
Following the first investigation, Meyer was fired from Two Rivers for 'using bad judgment,' but that did not stop her from finding employment at a different school. Since August 2019, Meyer has been working as a librarian at Onaway Elementary School in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
However, investigations based on the 2019 report revealed that Meyer did sexually exploit the teen, following which she was arrested last week. However, her lawyer has denied the charges against her and said she only began having sex with the alleged victim when he was 18.
