Kentucky high school teacher charged with allegedly exchanging nude photos with minors
A Kentucky high school teacher has been charged with allegedly exchanging nude photographs with two underage female students, according to court documents.
Lioney Henriquez, 39, has been charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of procuring or promoting the use of a minor by electronic means and nine counts of promoting a sexual performance by a minor, according to his arrest citation. He is a teacher at Whitley County High School and a baseball coach for the middle school team.
The exchanging of photos happened on several occasions. Henriquez admitted to exchanging the photos with the students, who are 16 and 17 years old, according to court documents.
Henriquez also admitted to inappropriately touching the juveniles while at school, according to court documents. He offered to meet with the students for sex but that never happened.
The students’ and Henriquez’s statements line up, court documents say.
Henriquez was booked into the Whitley County Detention Center Wednesday afternoon, according to jail records.
Henriquez was hired as a physical education teacher by Whitley County High School before the start of the 2023-24 school year, according to a previous Facebook post by the school.
Whitley County Schools’ officials did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment on Henriquez’ status with the school district.
Legislation
A September 2022 investigation by the Herald-Leader highlighted the problem of teacher sexual misconduct in Kentucky. The newspaper obtained 194 cases of teachers who voluntarily surrendered or had their license revoked or suspended from 2016 to 2021. Of those, 118 — 61% — lost their license due to sexual misconduct.
House Bill 275 in the 2024 General Assembly, filed by House Education Committee Chairman James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, would strengthen a school’s ability to prevent child sexual abuse by adult staff.
The current bill has been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives but has not yet been called for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee. A similar bill was proposed in 2023 but did not pass.
“I am still working to secure passage of HB 275 in the 2024 session,” Tipton told the Herald-Leader Thursday.
Herald-Leader reporter Beth Musgrave contributed to this article.
