New details in arrest of a Charlotte County teacher accused of hiding missing teen

There are new details about the events that led Charlotte County sheriff’s deputies to arrest a Charlotte County English teacher for hiding a missing teen.

According to a report from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, The teen left home on August 12 after an argument about him stealing $100. The person who reported the teen missing said he did not take his phone, medication, or bank card and had not been to school that day.

On August 15, the sheriff’s office sent a BOLO for the missing on their Facebook page, saying he was missing and endangered.

According to the report, the following day, deputies received information that the missing teen was last seen at a Punta Gorda address. Investigators went to the address and spoke to someone who said the missing teen had been there but was picked up by a woman named Kelly on the 15th.

After speaking with the person the teen was with previously, deputies determined Kelly was 31-year-old Kelly Simpson.

Investigators were told that the missing teen would talk about Simpson constantly and would sometimes bring her coffee, according to the report.

Based on the information provided, deputies went to Simpson’s home. The report says Simpson acknowledged that she knew the missing teen and knew that he had been reported missing. Simpson told investigators that she had picked up the missing teen but said she dropped him off at a gas station.

The report says that when investigators asked if they could search her home, she said no because the teen was not there. The investigators told her that it would be a quick search if that were the case.

According to the report, Simpson asked deputies what would happen if she did not let them search her home, at which point they told her she could be charged with a crime. That is when the report says Simpson said she would go inside and have the missing teen come out to speak with investigators.

The missing teen told deputies that Simpson picked him up on the night of the 15th, and he spent the night at her house. The report states Simpson knew the teen was missing because the teen told deputies that he showed her the sheriff’s office’s Facebook post.

The teen told deputies that Simpson told him they would deal with it the next day, according to the report.

Based on the evidence, deputies arrested Simpson.

“I was kind of glad that it was brought to someone’s attention because I had problems with the teacher last year with my son,” said a parent of a Charlotte High School student.

This mother asked to remain anonymous because she says her child was in Simpson’s class and the teenager found in Simpson’s home was his classmate.

“Lot of the boys think the teachers hot. And she flirts with a lot of the students,” said the parent.

WINK News asked Charlotte County Public School for Simpson’s personnel file to find out if anyone ever complained about the teacher for any reason. The district has not yet provided the file.

“Hopefully, there wasn’t anything sexual,” said the parent.

The arrest report from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office does not suggest anything inappropriate was going on.

Simpson is facing a charge of interfering with the custody of a minor. She has been released on a $5,000 bond.