Former Forney ISD educators federally charged after child sex abuse arrests

FORNEY, Texas - Two former Forney ISD educators are facing federal charges related to their arrests over child sex abuse allegations.

Additionally, new arrest documents reveal how Crosby Elementary School's former principal guided a man with a questionable past through changing his name in order to get hired by the district.

Federal charges for former Forney ISD educators

What's New:

Former Crosby Elementary School Principal Wendy Bailey and former Crosby Elementary School special education teacher Johnathan Michael have both been charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Federal documents state Bailey and Michael "devised and executed a scheme and artifice to defraud the Forney Independent School district and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses."

Bailey has already been charged with child endangerment and failure to report. A past arrest affidavit stated she failed to report Michael's alleged abuse of special needs students.

Michael was arrested by the Texas Rangers in May and was charged with two counts of injury to a child and one count of child grooming.

Forney ISD also reached a settlement with the DOJ because the district received federal funding while falsely saying it was complying with mandatory reporting laws related to Bailey and Michael's arrests.

The district agreed to pay a fine and adopt enhanced compliance measures to prevent future reporting failures.

Federal prosecutors also announced the launch of Project Safe Schools, an initiative aimed at fighting abuse in schools. The release says the issue of educators with trouble pasts getting hired again is more widespread than just Forney ISD.

Former principal encouraged suspect's name change

The document details how Bailey guided Michael, who was previously known as Michael Roell, through changing his name in order to be hired by Forney ISD.

Michael Roell was arrested in 2016 while working for Garland ISD and charged with indecency to a child with sexual contact. He was later acquitted, and also worked at Dallas ISD from 2022 to 2024 and was rejected from employment in Plano ISD prior to his employment at Forney ISD.

The documents state Bailey was aware of Michael Roell's concerning past when he applied to Forney ISD, telling another teacher, "No thank you, LOLOLOL! Let's try again:)" in an email, but later reached out to him multiple times about a job in the district.

In text messages between Bailey and Michael Roell, Bailey encouraged him to change his name. Bailey told Roell, "Definitely explore the name change route!" and "A good lawyer can get all the documents changed."

After Michael Roell changed his name to Johnathan Michael, he applied to Forney ISD under his new name and made no mention of his prior arrest or allegations in the application.

Forney ISD educator arrests

Dig deeper:

Bailey and Michael's arrests came after two teacher's aides reported that Michael inappropriately touched a special needs student at Crosby Elementary School in April, and had made sexually explicit comments towards other students. 

Investigators say Bailey moved the student to a different classroom and told the child's parents, "We are experiencing other behaviors in the room that required me to move him for safety reasons."

Michael is accused of two other incidents involving physical violence against Crosby Elementary special needs students, including allegedly pushing a student into a bookshelf and pinning a student on the ground with his knee.

The federal documents state that Bailey and Michael exchanged phone calls after the teacher's aides made the allegations. One reporting employee was reassigned to another classroom by Bailey after Michael complained about them.

What they're saying:

"These were not isolated failures. They represented systemic failures across multiple levels of the district. Conduct that Forney, to its credit, has taken responsibility for today," Ryan Raybould, U.S. Attorney for the North District of Texas, said on Tuesday. "For too long, misconduct in North Texas public school districts has been ignored or dismissed as isolated. Additionally, school districts have not been held accountable. That error is over."

Forney ISD statement

Forney ISD says it is cooperating with authorities as they continue their investigation, but their settlement with the DOJ was not an admission of liability.

"Because of the alleged actions of Bailey and Michael/Roell, Forney ISD entered into a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in an effort to save taxpayer dollars and keep funding in classrooms for students. As stated in the agreement, this settlement is not an admission of liability by Forney ISD."

The agreement states, "The United States contends that Principal Bailey failed to report materially relevant information concerning Michael/Roell’s prior criminal history… Bailey did not report this information to the Superintendent’s office at Forney ISD, the TEA, or the SBEC, as required under Texas law and district policy."

As also stated in the agreement, "Following the April 21, 2026 report, Forney ISD promptly requested investigative assistance from the Texas Rangers… and cooperated with that investigation. Forney ISD also made the required reports to the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) pursuant to Texas Education Code 22A and to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Forney ISD thereafter ended the employment of Michael/Roell as well as Bailey."

The behaviors by Bailey and Michael/Roell as alleged by the DOJ in the agreement are completely unacceptable. The behaviors described do not meet the high standards the District sets for staff, and will not be tolerated in Forney ISD."

What's next:

Bailey has bonded out of jail. No court date has been set.

Michael remains in the Kaufman County Jail.

ForneyEducationCrime and Public Safety