A former teacher at Pace Academy, Marshall Lopez, has been charged with sexual battery related to two of his teenage students, as confirmed by multiple reports. The 33-year-old was arrested following accusations of inappropriately touching the students between March and May at the private Buckhead school. Lopez was booked into Fulton County Jail on September 1 and released on September 3, documented by jail records.
Details of the alleged incidents, which have emerged, paint a disturbing picture. One student reported to Atlanta police that conversations about her grades with Lopez quickly turned into inappropriate physical actions. She recalls Lopez offered to slap her buttocks for a better grade—a proposal followed by an action—after asking her to "asked her not to tell anyone with a pinky promise," as outlined in a report obtained by Atlanta News First. Other instances detailed by the report include similar exchanges in the school library and after class, with Lopez respectively asking the student to turn off the lights and to turn around so he could spank her.
The second victim detailed to authorities how she was given three choices for punishment after Lopez caught her cheating on a test. Foregoing the options of notifying the honors council or her mother, she selected a third, unspecified one. Alone in the classroom, Lopez then purportedly instructed her to "place her hands on the desk and put her buttocks in the air" before he spanked her. This session was interrupted when another student knocked on the locked door, according to the same Atlanta News First report.
After the allegations surfaced, Lopez was terminated from his position at Pace Academy on May 1st. The school released a statement expressing their gratitude towards law enforcement—"We are grateful to the Atlanta Police Department and other law enforcement partners for their support and professionalism”—as outlined in a statement obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta. At this juncture, authorities are actively trying to determine if there are additional victims, and the investigation remains ongoing.
This case underscores a troubling pattern of conduct by an educator who exploited his position of authority. Such incidents have prompted further inquiries, but as investigations are still underway, additional information about the incidents is limited. For the latest updates and details, the Atlanta Police Department is the point of contact. Pace Academy, while not commenting further due to the active investigation, underscored its commitment to cooperating with the authorities handling the case.
