A teacher and three other suspects were arrested in Aiken County, South Carolina, after a 17-year-old was found naked and severely beaten on the side of the road last week. Police said the teen was found in the early morning of January 3 and had evidently been there for hours.
The teenager was "completely unclothed and the victim appeared to have been brutally beaten,” the Aiken County Sheriff's Department confirmed in a statement obtained by WCTV.
Authorities said the teen was lying on the side of the road all night.
When a deputy sheriff tried talking to the teen, his face was so swollen he was unable to speak. Police have identified one of the suspects in the attack as 35-year-old Raquel Stevens, a mother and middle school teacher in Aiken County.
Stevens faces multiple charges, including possession of anabolic steroids of 100 doses or more, possession of fentanyl, violation of drug distribution law, possession with the intent to distribute of controlled substance near a school and unlawful neglect of a child, per the outlet.
Raquel Stevens was previously arrested in 2018 on child neglect charges.
At the time, she was a math teacher in North Augusta and reportedly left her child in the back seat of her car for hours, forgetting the toddler was there. She told authorities she went to work around 7:20 a.m. at North Augusta Middle School, according to WRDW.
Raquel Stevens said she realized her 2-year-old had been left in the vehicle for more than 10 hours only after she got back into the car. She was initially headed to a nearby hospital but stopped at the Richmond County Sheriff's Office after noticing the child was unconscious.
The Aiken County School District had planned to revoke Raquel Stevens' teaching certificate, but the charges were eventually dropped.
The school district released a statement following the 2018 arrest.
“In July 2019, those charges were removed and the state reinstated her teaching certificate. She returned to work in August of 2019 and has performed her duties and responsibilities as a classroom teacher since that time without incident,” said the Aiken County Public School District in a statement obtained by WCTV.
Raquel Stevens remains employed with the district and is currently on administrative leave following her most recent arrest.
“Educators are held to a high standard of professional and personal conduct. This week’s arrest is certainly upsetting and she will remain on administrative leave pending further investigation,” said the school district, per WRDW.
Authorities have issued arrest warrants for the four suspects in North Augusta and Beech Island.
Two of the other suspects have been identified as Patrick Omar Stevens, 36, of North Augusta, and Derrick Lydale Nixon, 32, of Beech Island. Search warrants were issued for their homes, where authorities found several pounds of marijuana, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, anabolic steroids, fentanyl, and numerous firearms, WCTV reported.
According to reports, Patrick Stevens is facing charges of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, kidnapping, possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, and violation of drug distribution law.
There is no information on whether Raquel Stevens and Patrick Stevens are related.
Patrick Stevens also faces charges of drug possession and child neglect.
He faces four counts of possession of a controlled substance (dextroamphetamine, Concerta, and Vyvanse), possession of anabolic steroids 100 doses or more, possession of fentanyl, possession with the intent to distribute near a school, and unlawful neglect of a child.
The fourth suspect, who has been identified as 62-year-old Rickey Drayton, was also taken into custody on two counts of possession of cocaine first offense, operating a stash house, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana first offense.
