Terah Jill Wright
A former Haworth teacher and prominent cheer coach has been charged with three counts of soliciting sexual contact or communication with a minor by use of technology and one count of producing, distributing or possessing child pornography.
There are four male victims referenced in the affidavit ranging in age from 14 to 18 and also two young girls mentioned.
Special District Judge Laurie Blevins set bond for Terah Jill Wright, 43, at $200,000, and a condition of the bond is that she not contact any witness named in the information. There are 21 of them, including some juveniles. Wright was able to quickly post bail.
Special Victim Unit investigator Richard Williamson with the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office said in a sworn statement that he became aware that Wright, then a teacher at Haworth, had private messages with four male students.
On Nov. 18, school officials showed the officer photos of text messages between Wright and one alleged victim.
On Nov. 21, Williamson went to the school again and learned that Wright had been placed on administrative leave.
He went to see Wright and told her he wanted to talk to her about accusations. She denied the accusations, adding that she sees students as family.
Williamson seized her phone. He learned her Snap Chat user name and obtained a search warrant for her account.
Williamson said the messages between Wright and Victim 1, who was 15, indicated they were in a dating relationship, and both often used the words “I love you” in conversations.
The phone was then sent to the OSBI lab for digital extraction.
Williamson went back to the school and spoke with “Victim 2, who was 17. He advised that he and Wright were friends on Snap Chat, and he recalled her sending him a photo of her exposed breast. The officer saw the photo.
That same day, Williamson interviewed Wright’s husband, who said she had confessed that she had sent nude photos of herself to several high school boys.
A few days later, Williamson talked to Victim 2 again. This time he was told Wright had purchased things for him, including a knee brace. This time the student said she had indeed sent him pictures of her nude body, and of her masturbating.
The student said he could see both her face and her body in the photos, which were sent in October 2024.
The student said he did not have sexual intercourse with her. That phone, too, was sent to the OSBI.
Victim 3, said Williamson, told him that he had deleted from his phone Wright and all teachers after he found out he couldn’t communicate with any teacher on social media.
Victim 3 said one day Wright contacted him on Snap Chat while she was in a restroom. After he asked what she was doing, she sent him an emoji of a monkey covering its face and then a message of her exposed breast. Williamson obtained a search warrant for the phone.
Williamson located a fourth victim, he said, while looking at the phone. He was able to determine they were in a dating relationship, called each other “Babe,” and she said at one point, “I have to try very hard not to touch you as much.”
Victim 4 told her he would marry her if he could and that he thinks about her a lot, even having dreams about her. He said Wright asked him about the dreams and then told him she is in love with him.
In December, Williamson received the phone extractions from the OSBI lab. There were numerous photos of Wright exposing and touching her breast, he said.
Williamson also saw photographs and videos of a young female, age 11, whom he called Victim 5. The video showed the child holding a phone and videoing herself in a bathtub, exposing her vagina.
There was a photo of another unidentified female child with no undergarments and depicting her exposed vagina.
Williamson said: “It is believed that Terah was soliciting sex from minor children, and that these videos and photographs on her phone are child sexual assault material.”
Upon conviction, the first three felony charges carry a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
The child pornography charge carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison, up to a $25,000 fine, or both. Persons convicted under the final charge are not eligible to receive a deferred sentence.
