COPPELL, Texas - A teacher at Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus was arrested this week after allegedly trying to meet up with an underage boy for sex.
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said Steven Hart was taken into custody on Wednesday.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the 26-year-old used the social media app Grindr in October to chat with an undercover officer working for the sheriff’s department’s human trafficking unit.
He thought he was chatting with a 15-year-old male and tried multiple times to arrange a meeting for sexual contact in November, December and then again in February, the affidavit states.
By that time, the affidavit states investigators had identified Hart using account records and learned that he was a ninth-grade biology teacher at Coppell High School’s Ninth Grade Campus. They matched his driver’s license photo to the selfies he sent to the undercover officer.
Hart is now charged with online solicitation of a minor, which is a third-degree felony.
Coppell ISD said Hart, who has worked for the district since 2016, resigned shortly before his arrest.