Who is Ayanna Davis? Teacher arrested after Snapchat sex tape with minor emerges
LAKELAND, FLORIDA: Substitute teacher Ayanna Davis, 20, was arrested and charged with sexual battery after she slept with one of her students. A video of her allegedly having sex with the student who was 17 was posted on Snapchat. Davis was taken into custody on December 3 after a Lakeland High School student contacted the school resource officers regarding the video following which detectives were notified. The video had already been circulated among a number of students, including the school's football team before being brought to the school's attention.
Cases like this, unfortunately, are not uncommon in the country and we've reported on quite a few of them in the past. In 2019, Arizona teacher Brittany Zamora, 27, was accused of sending sexually explicit messages to her 13-year-old student. She allegedly had sex with him on numerous occasions, in her car, in the classroom in presence of another student, and even at the victim's grandparents' house. Earlier this year Ohio teacher Christina Sosbe, 29, was accused of having sex with two teen boys at a hotel in 2018 and was charged with a felony. In August, teacher's aide Jennilynne Derolf of Pennsylvania fatally shot herself in front of the 14-year-old she was accused of sexually assaulting. She was arrested from the school on July 15, 2021, with allegations of sexually assaulting the teenager. She was charged with felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, and institutional sexual assault, apart from misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and corruption of minors.
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Who is Ayanna Davis?
Davis does not seem to have a social media presence. Reports state she is a 20-year-old substitute teacher who was hired by a staffing company named Kelly Education which has previously helped with recruiting substitutes at Polk County Public Schools. The company confirmed Davis has been debarred till there is an outcome in the current investigation. “The safety of students is our highest priority,” Kelly Education's Denise Ridenour said. “Ayanna Davis has been deactivated and is not able to accept assignments pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.” The company insists she was hired after she passed the required tests and a complete background screening.
Davis told detectives she had unprotected sex with the student four times - twice at their respective homes. The Polk County Sheriff's Office got involved as her home falls in their jurisdiction. They said her confession matches the information they received from the victim. “This is a clear violation of sexual battery laws,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “She was in a position of influence over the victim, and she took advantage of that for her own twisted pleasure.” Davis is facing two sexual battery charges by custodian and offenses against students by authority figure from county warrants and two other sexual battery charges from Lakeland police, WFLA reported.
Davis was ordered to pay $60,000 in bond for all the offenses after her initial court appearance on December 11. She is scheduled to be arraigned on January 10, 2022. Currently, deputies are on the lookout for the video which was viewed by multiple students. “I know it’s out there someplace,” Sheriff Judd said. “It always is and that’s not a good thing. He’s still a juvenile, a child, and she’s an adult and she had sex and it’s wrong on every level.” School superintendent Frederick Heid commented on the incident saying, "The charges against this person are disgraceful and a complete violation of the trust that teachers build with their students. There is no room in our schools for this type of conduct.”