Former Teacher Indicted on Child Sexual Exploitation Charges

TYLER – A 38-year-old former Hopkins County schoolteacher has been indicted in Tyler federal court on child exploitation charges. According to federal authorities, former Sulphur Springs resident Lucas R. Hill has been named in a three-count indictment returned July 15. Charges include producing child pornography, enticing and coercing a minor, and transferring obscene matter to a child younger than 16. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday, and Hill is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Wednesday.

According to officials, law enforcement authorities were notified by family members who had discovered that an unknown person had created an account on Facebook using images of their minor son. At the time, Hill was a teacher with the Cumby Independent School District. Hill is alleged to have created the account under the fictitious name “Aaron Cage” and posed as a teenage boy by using photographs of another minor male without that boy’s knowledge or consent.

From at least October 2013, Hill is alleged to have contacted a number of underage girls, including children who may have attended Cumby schools, through the fictitious Facebook page. Officials say Hill chatted with the girls and persuaded them to engage in sexually explicit conduct, including producing images and videos of themselves engaged in sexual activity. If convicted, Hill could get from 10 years to life in federal prison.

Any minors who may have had contact with “Aaron Cage” are urged to contact Victim-Witness Coordinator Judy Daigle at the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 1-800-804-3547. According to a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will take the necessary steps to protect all minors’ identities and confidential information.