Asian Georgia Middle School Teacher, 24, Faces Deportation After Being Charged with Molesting a 13-Year-Old Student
Maxine Shen, Daily Mail, January 22, 2020
Rumah Byrapaka
A Georgia middle school teacher could be deported following charges that she molested a male student and sent him naked photos and explicit text messages.
Rumah Byrapaka, 24, was arrested on January 16 and charged with one count each of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes, after being accused of inappropriate behavior with a 13-year-old boy.
According to arrest warrants obtained by the Augusta Chronicle, Byrapaka sent nude pictures and explicit text messages to the boy. She also allegedly kissed and indecently touched him on school grounds.
WRDW reported that Bryapaka used Instagram to send at least some of the explicit messages and photos to the boy.
Following her arrest, Byrapaka was put on administrative leave with pay from her job at the Hephzibah Middle School in Hephzibah, Georgia.
Byrapaka taught physical science and social studies at the school, according to her since-deleted staff homepage, according to the Daily Sun Post.
On Tuesday, a judge granted Byrapaka bond – which the alleged victim’s relatives opposed.
The district attorney’s office said that the boy had been known to sneak out of his home to meet up with Byrapaka because he is in love with her.
Online jail records indicate that Byrapaka was given a $16,500 bond on the child molestation misdemeanor charge, with an additional $11,200 bond for the enticing a child charge.
Should Byrapaka post her bond, she would be released from jail, but then go into a federal detention center on an immigration hold because she is not a US citizen.
Byrapaka is in the US on a student visa and consequently faces deportation.
It’s unclear what Byrapaka’s home country is and where she could be deported to.
The judge set multiple conditions on her bond. Among them is that she has no contact with either the boy or his family, that she surrender her passport to the district attorney, and that she tells the court if she is released from federal custody and living with her family in Georgia’s Columbia County.
Her bond conditions also prohibit her from teaching at any school or being in contact with anyone under the age of 18, WRDW reported.
The district attorney’s office intends to file additional charges against Byrapaka, the August Chronicle reported.
Byrapaka’s jail records also include an ‘other authorities safekeeping’ charge, presumably her Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Augusta District Attorney’s Office for additional comment.
