A Collin County grand jury has indicted former Celina ISD teacher Caleb Elliott on multiple felony counts according to county court records.
A grand jury in the 146th District Court in Collin County indicted Elliott last week on two counts of inducing or authorizing a sexual performance by a child, possession of child pornography and invasive visual recording — all of which are second-degree felonies. He was also indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of production and attempted production of child pornography in November.
Elliott, a former Moore Middle School eighth-grade football coach, was arrested in October after he was accused of recording students changing in the boys locker room. He’s also facing multiple lawsuits — and thanks to a new state law that went into effect September 1, so is Celina ISD, the school district that employed him.
The lawsuits allege that Elliott forced students to do jumping jacks and burpees while nude.
The Celina Police Department concluded its investigation of the allegations in November.
Rep. Mitch Little, who wrote the bill that allows for school districts to be held liable for an employees’ sexual misconduct, said at a press conference in early December the investigation was rushed. Little is representing 17 families who are suing Celina ISD and Elliott.
“It is now apparent to me that Celina Police Department has stopped their investigation where they wanted to, and not necessarily where the evidence would lead them,” Little said.
An independent investigator that Celina ISD hired concluded a probe into the allegations in January. A heavily redacted investigative report concluded there were "systemic issues and/or failures" in Athletics at Celina ISD and Moore Middle School but found no evidence the district was aware of Elliott’s sexual misconduct before it was reported. No witness had any knowledge about Elliott or any other coach making students do jumping jacks or burpees naked according to the report.
Little told KERA when the report was released the district was more focused on protecting its reputation than its students.
“You would think if they were prioritizing the children that they would have at least tried to speak to some of them, have their so-called an independent investigator speak to them,” Little said. “But I guess that wasn't important enough to do. They're way more concerned with image management and trying to isolate the harm to Caleb Elliott.”
If the lawsuits against Elliott and Celina ISD succeed, the district could end up owing the plaintiffs up to about $15.5 million in restitution — the Texas law limits damages to $500,000 per claimant. The district’s operating expenses for the adopted budget for the 2025-2026 school year is $104,139,746 according to school budget documents — the same amount as Celina ISD’s total revenue for that school year.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
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