High School Spanish Teacher Pleads Guilty to Traveling to Have Sex with Student and Adderall Distribution

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A former high school Spanish teacher from Huntington, West Virginia pled guilty to traveling across state lines to have sex with one of her students, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Amy Adkins, 30, pled guilty to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and distribution of Adderall.

“No teacher should ever behave this way. This isn’t what we expect when a high school student signs up to learn Spanish. Teachers should be role models, not models of despicable behavior. Adkins was supposed to be teaching Spanish – not providing drugs and engaging in sex with them,” United States Attorney Mike Stuart said. “Protecting children is a priority in my office and we will prosecute anyone putting them in harm’s way.”

Adkins admitted that while she was a Spanish teacher at Fairland High School in Proctorville, Ohio during the 2017 to 2018 academic year, she communicated frequently with one of her young male students on social media. This student was under 16 years old at the time. On April 7, 2018, Adkins admits that she drove from her home in Huntington, to Ohio, where she picked up this underage student, and brought him back to Huntington with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with the student. Ultimately, Adkins had sex with the victim that day at her home in Huntington.

In addition to traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, Adkins also admitted that from September 2017 to May 2018 she frequently sold a portion of her Adderall prescription to her friends and acquaintances. Specifically, Adkins admitted that she sold one close friend five pills of Adderall on March 9, 2018. Adderall is a Schedule II controlled substance.

Adkins faces up to eight years in prison when sentenced on September 8, 2020 in Huntington.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the West Virginia State Police, and the Lawrence County, Ohio, Department of Job and Family Services conducted the investigation. United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Kristin F. Scott is handling the prosecution.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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