A former teacher and coach is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old Alvarado student in his car outside the district’s administration building, Alvarado Police say.
According to police, Jared Young admitted to investigators to sexual misconduct. Police said he sent or exchanged nude and sexually explicit photographs through social media and texts with at least two Alvarado ISD students.
Young was a teacher and coach at Alvarado ISD during the 2023-2024 school year. When his contract was not renewed, he became a science teacher and freshman football and basketball coach at Legacy High School in Mansfield, where he had previously worked as a special education teacher’s aide.
“There’s no telling how many more students are going to come forward,” said Lt. Casey Lopez, with the Alvarado Police Department. “The face of a predator is the face of anybody. You never know who they are. You never really know what’s going on in someone’s head or behind closed doors.”
In a letter to parents, the school’s principal said, “The district immediately placed Mr. Young on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Upon obtaining additional information, the district notified Mr. Young of its intent to terminate his employment.”
“It is very important for the school officials to do their due diligence when it comes to things like this as opposed to trying to wait or sweep it under the rug,” Lopez said. “We’re doing data dumps on phones, digital devices, so we’re going to learn more in the next few months.”
At this point, investigators do not believe any Mansfield ISD students are victims. The school district is now reaching out to the families of students Young had contact with and will be searching through his devices.
The Mansfield School District said it followed strict hiring protocols for Young, including a criminal background check, employment history verification and professional references, none of which revealed any concerns.
“They check out, they look great and that’s the scary part, is you never know. You never know,” Lopez said.
Young’s case does not list an attorney to speak on his behalf. He was arrested on Friday and is charged with sexual assault of a child. He remains behind bars in the Johnson County Jail on a $250,000 bond.