Texas Teach Pinched for Tampering with Boy Witness

(Denton, Texas) In July 2007, a 7th-grade English teacher at Strickland Middle School, Lauren Cosgrove, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sexual relations with a 13-year-old male student of hers that she was also babysitting.

Married and the mother of two, Cosgrove faces two counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child. She was booked into custody at the Denton City Jail and released on $20,000 bond. The Denton County grand jury is expected to review the case soon.

Meanwhile, it seems that 29-year-old Cosgrove has been attempting to contact the boy which is contrary to the terms of her release.

Detective Shane Kizer said Cosgrove was admonished not to contact the boy. But two days later, one of the boy's friends called him and began trying to talk to him about the case. The victim handed the telephone to his mother, Kizer said, and she learned from the friend that Cosgrove had asked him to set up a three-way call so she could talk to the boy without her number appearing on caller ID.

"She wanted to tell him what to say to make things better for her in court," Kizer said.

Because the victim and his family were suffering from intense publicity in the case, they agreed it would be better not to file more charges just then, he said.

"But there are circumstances that point to her trying to contact him on the Internet," Kizer said. "And about two weeks ago, she called his cellphone."

Kizer said the call upset the boy, who no longer wants to be contacted by Cosgrove. At that time, Kizer decided to file the charge of tampering with a witness.

As a consequence, Cosgrove surrendered to police early yesterday to face the new charges. Around 4PM, she was released on $5,000 bail.

Tip: Don Morgenstern


[Update 12/9/08]

Cosgrove arrested again for tampering with a witness.