Female high school teacher arrested after ‘hiding’ runaway teenage boy in her Florida home
A female Florida high school teacher hid a 15-year-old student with a crush on her inside her home after she knew that his parents and authorities were looking for him, authorities say.
Kelly Simpson, 31, who teaches English at Charlotte High School where the teen attends, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with interfering with the custody of a minor, police say, after a brief standoff with police at her front door.
Last Friday after skipping school, the boy who was only identified by the initials D.J., got in an argument with his parents and stole $100 from their home on Manatee Lane in Port Charlotte, according to an arrest affidavit.
![Kelly Simpson, 31, was arrested for interfering with the custody of a minor after harboring a runaway student in her Punta Gorda, Florida home](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/08/18/15/61505537-11123685-Kelly_Simpson_31_was_arrested_for_interfering_with_the_custody_o-m-5_1660833623196.jpg)
Kelly Simpson, 31, was arrested for interfering with the custody of a minor after harboring a runaway student in her Punta Gorda, Florida home
![Simpson initially told Charlotte County Sheriff's detectives that she had given the boy a ride, but didn't know where he was. She later ushered the boy out after she was told she could be charged with a crime](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/08/18/14/61506177-11123685-image-a-9_1660830638235.jpg)
Simpson initially told Charlotte County Sheriff’s detectives that she had given the boy a ride, but didn’t know where he was. She later ushered the boy out after she was told she could be charged with a crime
![Kelly Simpson, 31, pictured, taught English to a 15-year-old runaway who she harbored despite knowing that his parents and police were looking for him.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/08/18/14/61506155-11123685-image-a-12_1660830839583.jpg)
Kelly Simpson, 31, pictured, taught English to a 15-year-old runaway who she harbored despite knowing that his parents and police were looking for him.
The teen took off without his cellphone or medication last Thursday, prompting his worried parents to file a report with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives scoured the boy’s social media and tried to trace him through bank records and electronic devices, but days went by without any indication of the teen’s whereabouts.
He left no note behind either.
Detectives received a tip that he had been staying at an undisclosed home in Punta Gorda, Florida, but when they went to the home, the person there said that D.J. had been picked up by a woman named Kelly who was driving a black car.
![Charlotte High School, above, suspended Simpson after she was arrested and placed her on administrative leave](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/08/18/14/61506357-11123685-image-a-10_1660830721147.jpg)
Charlotte High School, above, suspended Simpson after she was arrested and placed her on administrative leave
![The boy's parents said that he talked about Simpson constantly and would bring her coffee at the Charlotte High School (above) where she taught English](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/08/18/14/61506359-11123685-image-a-11_1660830780698.jpg)
The boy’s parents said that he talked about Simpson constantly and would bring her coffee at the Charlotte High School (above) where she taught English
The boy’s parents told police that the only Kelly they knew was his former English teacher.
They told police that their son ‘would talk about Kelly constantly and would even bring her coffee,’ according to court papers.
When Detective Jonathan Murray went to Simpson’s home, she told them that she knew the boy and that she had seen the missing persons poster that they had put up around town, but when cops asked to search for the teen inside, she told them that he wasn’t there.
‘She replied that she did pick him up from Punta Gorda and then dropped him off at a gas station,’ according to Murray’s account.
Detectives pressed her to look inside the home and again she hesitated.
‘I asked again if I could clear the home and she stated no,’ the detective said. ‘Because [D.J.] was not there.’
It was only after the detective told her that if they found out later that the boy was there that she could be charged with a crime that she admitted that he was inside the home.
‘Kelly stopped talking then stated that she would go inside and have [D.J.] come out,’ Murray said. ‘Kelly proceeded inside the home and after approximately 10 minutes, [D.J.] comes out the home.
The boy told police that he had been picked up by the teacher and spent one night there, according to police.
‘Kelly Simpson was placed under arrest for interfering with the custody of a minor after picking the juvenile up from an unknown location and concealing him inside her home while having knowledge of his missing endangered status,’ the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
She was released on $5,000 bail and requested to be appointed a public defender.
Charlotte High School suspended her from teaching and placed on administrative leave, school administrators said.
‘Charlotte County Public Schools takes an incident such as this very seriously,’ high school officials said in a statement. ‘The safety, protection and well-being of our students is a top priority.’
Students at the school were surprised by the news, but some said that she had been inappropriately friendly in the classroom.
‘It’s just, honestly, really crazy,’ one student, who asked to not be identified, told WINK News. ‘I heard from a lot of my friends who have her that she is super flirtatious, kind of, with some of the students. I would have never thought that she’d do something like this.’
Another student who has her as an English teacher seemed to throw cold water on any notion that there was romance between the two.
‘I wish students would stop being so gullible and stop making so many rumors,’ one of her students said.
Simpson is due back in court on September 27.