A former Istrouma High teacher arrested in May 2023 for allegedly engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior with a student on the school's campus has reversed his plea to guilty, court records show.
Johnnie Butler, 42, pleaded guilty to two charges of prohibited sexual conduct between an educator and a student and a charge of obscenity on Monday. One rape charge was dropped and the other was changed to the obscenity charge, according to Dale Glover, Butler's attorney.
Butler had previously pleaded not guilty in January.
According to a lawsuit filed by the student against the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, Butler was the health teacher and track coach at Istrouma High when he allegedly lured the student into a place on campus, then pulled her into a closet where he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with her in May 2023.
Butler was fired from his position the same month and turned himself in to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office.
According to an arrest affidavit for Butler, the victim told detectives she "froze and could not say anything because she was in a state of shock" at the time of the incident.
Text messages between Butler and the student, who allowed detectives to search her cellphone, showed that Butler had previously sent her suggestive messages, the affidavit says.
In an interview with detectives at the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's headquarters in May 2023, Butler denied having any sexual encounters with the student. He admitted that before he arrived at the Sheriff's Office he deleted text messages between himself and the student.
Security footage from the school obtained after the interview showed Butler inside the school's gym with the student at the time he had told her to meet him.
Butler was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in May 2023.
His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.