A former teacher at Tarpon Springs High School was sentenced to 22 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to molesting a student in 2024.
Police arrested James Collins, now 41, two years ago after investigators determined he molested and battered a student.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd or lascivious battery while being an authority figure at a school, and one count each of lewd and lascivious molestation while being an authority figure at a school, and seduction of a child using the internet or an electronic device.
The victim enrolled at Tarpon Springs High in 2024 and received tutoring from Collins, who was her geometry teacher.
The two exchanged cellphone numbers, and Collins sent her text messages that were sexual in nature, according to prosecutors. He also asked her to send him inappropriate pictures.
That summer, he picked her up on more than one occasion to engage in sexual activity. It was then, the victim said, that Collins forced himself on her.
The victim — whom the Tampa Bay Times is not naming because she is a survivor of sexual abuse — wrote a lengthy emotional statement that Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Spadaro read in court Thursday.
“The last two-plus years of my life have been contaminated, to say the least,” the statement said. “Between the sexual abuse I endured and this court case, which has been plaguing myself and my family since, it’s safe to say this hasn’t been easy.”
She has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression as a result of the abuse she endured, the statement said.
“There was a time in my life when I would say the words ‘no’ or ‘stop,’ and they meant nothing,” her statement read. “I was violated, manipulated and groomed for months.”
Collins did not make a statement to the court during Thursday’s hearing. He was designated a sexual predator under Florida law and will serve 10 years of sex offender probation following his prison term.
Collins had worked at the Pinellas County school district for 11 months before he was arrested, school district spokesperson Isabel Mascareñas told the Times in an email. He resigned on June 19, 2024, the day after his arrest.
Collins had no arrests on his record when the school district hired him in 2023, and he met all hiring guidelines and had no disciplinary history on his personnel file, according to Mascareñas.
“The Pinellas County District has zero tolerance for staff behavior that jeopardizes student safety or the integrity of our schools,” Mascareñas wrote.
The victim’s mother — whom the Times is also not naming because doing so could reveal the victim’s identity — said justice had been served.
“We should be able to send our children to school and trust that they are there to get an education and cared for,” she said. “What my family has endured, we would not want that to happen to any other student or family.”
