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Local Teacher Charged With Indecency With a Child

Local Teacher Charged With Indencency With a Child
Anthony "Tony" Mattei | Image by FOX 4

Former Lovejoy ISD instructional aide and current Allen ISD middle school teacher Anthony “Tony” Mattei was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

The charges are second-degree felonies under the Texas Penal Code, which states that “a person commits an offense if, with a child younger than 17 years of age…, the person: engages in sexual contact with the child or causes the child to engage in sexual contact.”

Mattei faces imprisonment of at least two years, and no more than 20 years, for each count. Additionally, due to the nature of the charge, including sexual contact, if convicted, Mattei would have to register as a sex offender.

According to an email sent by Lovejoy ISD Superintendent Katie Kordel, Mattei worked on all the district’s campuses as a substitute teacher from November 2018 until May 2019.

He was then hired as an instructional aide at Lovejoy High School in August 2019, where he worked until May 2021. Since then, Mattei has been a classroom teacher at Curtis Middle School in Allen ISD.

“The alleged crime under investigation occurred after Mattei was no longer employed by Lovejoy ISD,” wrote Kordel. “Until today, we were not aware of this serious allegation.”

While Kordel named Mattei in her correspondence to parents, the email that went out to Allen ISD parents from their district left more questions than answers. The letter simply informed them that an unnamed teacher had been indicted on allegations of misconduct.

In an interview with Fox 4 News, a father of students at Curtis Middle School, Chris Guillermo, said, “It opened up questions. Was my son or daughter impacted? Hard to know if you don’t have those details. You want to protect the children and not yourselves.”

Allen ISD had admitted that the allegations which led to these indictments were originally made against Mattei in April 2022.

The district says that it investigated those claims and contacted authorities. Mattei was placed on administrative leave during the investigation but then allowed to return to teaching.

Katie Nixon, a mother with a child in the school, took issue with the email from the district and school officials’ approach to the situation, asking, “Why was it so vague? Why was he still here?”

In a letter to parents, the district claimed, “Allen ISD followed its investigation procedures in place, and based off the available evidence, was unable to sustain the allegation. However, in an abundance of caution, Allen ISD followed up on its investigation by notifying Child Protective Services (CPS) of the incident.”

The additional investigation by the local Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County eventually led to the discovery of more information leading to the indictment of Mattei. Upon learning of these developments, Allen ISD placed Mattei on administrative leave again.

Allen ISD has committed to hiring an independent review of its handling of the Anthony Mattei incident.

The next hearing for Mattei is set for September 8. Parents of both districts have been encouraged to speak with their children and report any additional information as needed.

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