A 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year award finalist has been arrested on charges of kidnapping and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office arrested 44-year-old Tera Johnson-Swartz Feb. 20 after she allegedly picked up an underage male student in her vehicle and took him off school grounds without his parents’ knowledge or permission.
According to the arrest affidavit, Johnson-Swartz met the student while she was his teacher at STEM School Highlands Ranch, and at some point she gave him her cellphone number so the two could exchange texts.
