Pauls Valley Teacher Pleads Not Guilty To Child Abuse Charges

A teacher at Pauls Valley Junior High is facing two felony counts of child abuse.

Two students reported to Pauls Valley Police Department that 57-year-old Rocky Walker hit them.

He’s a long-time history teacher at the school and also a well-known pastor in the community.

“He’s a teacher, a father, and a preacher very well-loved by students, the parents and his congregation,” said Cassie Mikel, a former student. “He wouldn’t hurt a kid. No.”

She hopes the allegations are false.

About a dozen people showed up at the courthouse to support Walker during his arraignment on Monday afternoon.

Pauls Valley Assistant Police Chief Derrick Jolley said they received two separate incident reports from two students. Both told police Walker hit them repeatedly on Thursday.

A 15-year-old boy told police he was helping Walker paint his house when Walker pinned him against the wall.

“Slapped him several times, took the child into headlock, and repeatedly struck him,” said Jolley.

Afterwards, Walker dropped the student off at a friend’s house where his friend’s mother noticed something was wrong. She called the student’s father, who then took his son to report it to police.  

A 16-year-old boy told police Walker hit him at least seven to eight times at school as discipline.

He was punishing him for being disobedient to another female teacher. The child said Walker apologized and prayed with him after.

On the police report, it states there was security camera footage that showed the student in the hallway walking toward Walker’s classroom during lunch.

Then, Walker walked toward his classroom and minutes later, the two were seen in the surveillance video together.

Jolley said the two children were not aware of each other’s cases. They both happened on Thursday and were reported within hours of each other.

Jolley saw the bruises with his own eyes.

“They were very visible. They were bruising, red, covered several inches, almost welted up,” Jolley said. 

Jolley also discovered that Walker was arrested for assault in 2013 in Branson, Missouri. He recently finished his probation in October. News 9 has put in an open records request for that police report.

At Walker’s arraignment on Monday, his attorney represented him and entered a not guilty plea.

Walker is due back in court on June 10 for his preliminary hearing.