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SALT LAKE CITY — A longtime elementary school teacher in the Salt Lake City School District has been charged with aggravated sex abuse of a former student.
Jared Tichy, 44, was charged Wednesday with the first-degree felony in 3rd District Court.
As of Wednesday evening, Tichy was listed as a current first grade teacher at Edison Elementary School. According to the charges, the alleged abuse happened sometime between 2017 and 2019.
A 13-year-old girl reported that when she was in second grade at Edison Elementary, Tichy touched her inappropriately. The girl said Tichy would play games with her "and she would earn special points 'for no reason' called Dojo points" that were used to exchange for gifts that Tichy bought, according to the charges.
The student told investigators Tichy touched her inappropriately on numerous areas of her body. The teacher "convinced her that it was a game," the charges state, and the girl said she didn't tell anyone until now because she didn't realize it was bad and didn't want to "annoy anybody."
The 13-year-old said the touching "made her feel uncomfortable and weird," police said, and that his "tickles sometimes hurt her." She said it happened to other students in Tichy's classroom, the charges state.
During an interview with a Salt Lake police detective, Tichy said he had been teaching for 19 years and he taught second grade at Edison from 2015-17 and 2019-22.
"Tichy stated that he does a 'Class Dojo' which is a rewards system he uses in his classroom," the charges state.
A detective interviewed three more girls who had been Tichy's students, according to the charges.
"Each additional young girl reported similar treatment from the defendant in receiving extra attention, sitting at the special table, having their feet rubbed, and being touched on their waists and thighs," according to court documents.
The detective "discovered additional reports had previously been made about the defendant touching students' feet. The defendant used his position of trust to prey upon his students. The defendant is a danger to the victim, children and the community. Due to the serious nature of the allegations, and the defendant's access to children, he should be held without bail," prosecutors wrote.
In a statement about the investigation on Wednesday, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill's office noted aggravated sexual abuse of a child carries a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
"Our office will always aggressively prosecute those who victimize our children, especially those who hold a position of special trust in relation to the child, like a teacher. We applaud the young survivor that made the decision to speak up and report this allegation. It is difficult for anyone to have the courage to take this step, especially a child," Gill said. "We'd like to thank the Salt Lake City Police Department for gathering the supportive evidence to screen and file charges for this alleged crime."
