A principal and special education teacher tied to a student abuse case are now charged with defrauding the school district.
Two fired Forney Independent School District employees are facing federal fraud charges for a “pass the trash” scheme that enabled a teacher with a history of sexual misconduct to abuse more special needs students.
Forney ISD also agreed to a civil False Claims Act settlement in the case.
Federal authorities filed wire fraud charges against former Crosby Elementary Principal Wendy Bailey and special education teacher Johnathan Michael, also known as Michael Roell.
Both were arrested earlier this year on state charges—Roell/Michael for physically and sexually abusing students in his Crosby classroom throughout the 2025-26 school year and Bailey for failing to report the abuse.
A federal criminal complaint filed August 14 alleges Roell/Michael and Bailey defrauded Forney ISD by providing false information and concealing past misconduct claims so the district would hire the teacher.
“These are not allegations of negligence; they are allegations of deception, and they illustrate exactly how passing the trash operates inside real North Texas schools,” said Ryan Raybould, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, who announced the charges on Tuesday.
In 2015-16, while working at Hudson Middle School in Garland ISD under the name Roell, the teacher was accused of physically and sexually abusing male special needs students and charged with...
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