3 new sexual assault charges filed against former Highlands Ranch teacher

A former Highlands Ranch teacher accused of kissing a student and giving them marijuana and cigarettes now faces five felony charges, including kidnapping and sexual assault, according to court records.

Tera Johnson-Swartz, a 45-year-old Castle Rock woman who taught at STEM School Highlands Ranch, was originally charged with second-degree kidnapping and unlawful electronic sexual communication, both felonies, as well as contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. Her employment at the school ended on Feb. 14, 2025.

That case was dismissed in May 2025, and a new case was opened shortly after, Douglas County court records show.

“The old case was dropped after new information came to light,” 23rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Tom Mustin said in an email to The Denver Post.

Johnson-Swartz faces the same charges in the new case and three new ones: two counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust–pattern of abuse, and one count of sexual assault with a 10-year age difference, according to court records.

She was indicted on all six charges by a grand jury in May 2025, court documents show.

The newly added sexual assault charges are linked to several incidents between Dec. 1, 2024, and Feb. 20, 2025, where Johnson-Swartz initiated sex with a student younger than 18 years old, according to witness testimonies from the grand jury indictment. The name, age and gender of the victim were redacted from the indictment because they are a minor.

Johnson-Swartz would buy the student cigarettes and let the student “take a hit” off her marijuana pen, witnesses testified. Their relationship was discovered when the student’s phone was confiscated by their parents and the student’s mother found deleted text chains with the former teacher.

Roughly 2,400 messages, many containing sexually explicit content, were exchanged between the two in the three weeks prior, according to court documents. At one point, Johnson-Swartz called the text thread a string of “1,000,000,000 ways to get (her) fired/arrested/killed.”