Ex-Johnson High School staffer to be charged under new felony child grooming law

Daniela Franco, 23, actively avoiding arrest, considered a fugitive from justice, BCSO says

SAN ANTONIO – A teacher’s assistant at Johnson High School resigned in lieu of termination last month and is now wanted on a felony child grooming warrant after North East Independent School District police said she sent nude photos and lewd videos of herself to a teenage student at the school.

Daniela Franco, 23, resigned on Oct. 18, a day after NEISD police learned of allegations that the paraprofessional was using the social media app Snapchat to communicate with the teen.

Franco told investigators she was “flirting” with the teen at school and had sent nude images of herself to him using Snapchat, charging paperwork viewed by KSAT Investigates states.

The Snapchat messages were sent between mid-September and Oct. 14. The teen was 16 when the messages began and they continued after he turned 17 years old, the paperwork shows.

Franco also sent the teen lewd videos of herself, and messages intended to solicit the victim to engage in a sex act with her, the paperwork shows.

An arrest warrant for child grooming, a third-degree felony, was issued for Franco on Nov. 13, court records show.

She had not been taken into custody as of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, however.

A spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office told KSAT Franco is believed to be actively avoiding law enforcement and is aware that a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

Anyone with information on Franco’s whereabouts is asked to call the BCSO non-emergency number at (210) 335-6000. Tips on her whereabouts can also be sent to BCSOTIPS@bexar.org.

Franco worked for NEISD since Aug. 2022, a spokeswoman for the district confirmed to KSAT.

The spokeswoman described the incident as only involving one student.

Texas’ child grooming law went into effect in September and makes it a crime for an adult to knowingly persuade, induce, entice, or coerce, or attempt to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce, a child younger than 18 years of age to engage in sexual conduct.

Franco will be among the first people charged with child grooming in the San Antonio area.


About the Author
Dillon Collier headshot

Emmy-award winning reporter Dillon Collier joined KSAT Investigates in September 2016. Dillon's investigative stories air weeknights on the Nightbeat and on the Six O'Clock News. Dillon is a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Reporter of the Year.

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