NEW ORLEANS — A New Orleans teacher has been charged with sex trafficking a 16-year-old girl, federal authorities said Monday, asking for the public’s help in determining whether there are additional victims.
A federal complaint was filed last week in New Orleans charging Aaron Terod Johnson, 36, with child sex trafficking and other crimes.
An affidavit filed last week by an investigator for the Department of Homeland Security says the victim said she met the teacher on Facebook and that he arranged to pick her up in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The victim told the investigator that the teacher drove her to an apartment in New Orleans and paid her to have sex with him in March. Evidence cited in the affidavit includes Facebook Messenger messages between the victim and Johnson and videos of Johnson’s car captured at points in Louisiana and near the Mississippi state line, indicating he had traveled to and from Mississippi in mid-March.
Johnson is in federal custody, according to court records. A public defender appointed to represent him after the court ruled he could not afford an attorney declined immediate comment Monday.
Authorities have not disclosed which school Johnson taught at or whether it was public or private.
According to a press release from Homeland Security Investigations, the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Johnson has been a teacher in the New Orleans area since last year.
“Given his online activities and work, HSI authorities are seeking information that may assist in identifying potential victims whom Johnson may have solicited or exploited,” the agency’s press release said.