Female school caretaker charged with rape after 'taking teenage boy's virginity in classroom'

Jessica Galyon, 29, was already charged with sexual battery by an authority figure, aggravated statutory rape and statutory rape by an authority figure, before a new lawsuit was filed.Roane County Sheriff's Office

A married female school caretaker has been charged with raping a teenage schoolboy by allegedly taking his virginity in a classroom after he snubbed her advances.

School janitor Jessica Galyon was allegedly turned down for sex multiple times by the 16-year-old boy before she led him into a classroom at Midway High School, Tennessee, and raped him last year.

Galyon, a mother, is already charged with sexual battery by an authority figure, aggravated statutory rape and statutory rape by an authority figure after she was arrested in February.

The 29-year-old now faces a lawsuit, alongside the Roane County Schools district, for $4.5m (£3.4m) in damages in a litigation filed by the boy's family.

The lawsuit says the incident took place after Galyon allegedly began sending "flirtatious and sexual messages" to the boy on Facebook last summer.

Then on 16 September, it is alleged he rejected her offer of meeting her in a hotel room and told her he didn't want "any further contact" with her when she launched her attack, according to the lawsuit.

She then allegedly took him into a room and raped him at the school during school hours then pleaded with the boy to keep the incident a secret as it would cause her to lose her job, her husband and her children.

"This was the first ever sexual encounter of any kind that (the boy) had ever had in his life," the lawsuit read.

The Knoxville New Sentinel said that a month after the alleged rape, a school faculty member told the school's administration what had happened before Galyon's arrest.

Galyon, from Philadelphia, Tennessee, was arrested in February and has been released on bail.

The lawsuit cites "unsolicited, unwanted and unwelcome" sexual advances dating back to August last year, when she first met her alleged victim, accusing Roane County Schools and Compass One (who employed Galyon) of acting "intentionally, willfully, wantonly and/or with gross negligence in failing to recognize and/or stop the sexual misconduct of Galyon".

It was reported that the boy later dropped out of school and began counselling after the incident became common knowledge and he was bullied.

The lawsuit also states that one faculty member even told the boy he was "jealous" of him "because he wanted to have sex with Galyon".

Roane County Schools and Compass One Services have not yet made a comment.