A Spokane, Washington, special education teacher is accused of raping and repeatedly molesting her ten-year-old student – sometimes “five times a day,” authorities allege – in one of the most shocking examples in an unrelenting trend of educator sexual abuse across the U.S. in recent years.
During a two-month investigation, detectives from the Spokane Police Department’s Special Victims Unit obtained the suspect’s cell phone and discovered the disturbing content, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by multiple news outlets.
That footage allegedly included the teacher, Mahayla Benavides, who is 32, performing a sexual act with the child.
Most of the abuse occurred in a “time-out room” adjacent to the classroom, according to the court document.
It wasn’t always so hidden, according to the affidavit. She allegedly also touched him sexually when other students were present, the boy told police. During class, she allegedly would also show him videos, also obtained by police on her phone, of her undressing and pleasuring herself, at least once while saying his name.
When confronted with the allegations, detectives said, the teacher remained silent and asked for a lawyer. Police arrested her on March 13.
On Tuesday, Benavides pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree child rape and first-degree child molestation in a Spokane County court.
The judge set her bond at $500,000 and issued a no contact order, saying that Benavides allegedly tried to contact the victim after police launched the investigation.
The teacher allegedly employed classic grooming behaviors to prevent disclosure of the abuse, which police say began around the winter break.
The student told investigators that Benavides would give him brownies and told him not to tell anyone because she could lose her job or get in trouble.
The investigation began after the school’s principal called police to report the boy’s allegations were reported to him by a family member of the student.
“I am disgusted by anyone who harms a child at any time at any place,” Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Adam Swinyard told KREM2 following the arraignment. “What I can say to our community is that the Spokane Police Department have been very supportive of us in this process, making sure that it’s handled swiftly.”
Educator sexual misconduct continues to be “rampant,” researchers say, after comprehensive national data on the problem was obtained and studied more than two decades ago.
Suggestions for addressing the problem focus on developing new training measures for students and staff on how to recognize and report the typically secretive behavior by perpetrators in position of authority in schools.
The Spokane superintendent told said the district requires yearly training on the threat.
“That’s annual training that all kids are required to do, and our staff engage in that training as well,” Swinyard told KHQ.
Veteran crime writer Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child sex abuse in U.s. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
