A former teacher at Pace Academy, an Atlanta college preparatory school, was charged with sexually battering two students.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, Marshall Lopez, on multiple occasions, inappropriately touched two female students.
The police reports related to his arrest show that he spanked the two students on several occasions, despite the students’ expression of discomfort.
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In one instance, the police reports say Lopez was punishing a student for cheating on her exam, giving her “three different options of punishment.”
The first option was to tell the school’s Honors Council, which would decide a punishment, another option was to tell the student’s mother and a third was a punishment by Lopez that would keep the infraction off of her student record, the police report says.
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The Atlanta police said the student chose punishment from Lopez and he had her “stay behind in class with him and no other individual present,” then had her put her hands on the desk and he spanked her four times.
Another student knocked on the classroom door due to it being locked, and Lopez told the student to act like nothing had happened, the police report says.
The student victim in this incident later told friends at the school, who told an adult and administrators got involved, leading to Lopez being dismissed from employment at Pace Academy, according to APD.
Another student who reported incidents with Lopez told police he had offered to spank her in exchange for better grades in his class and “asked her not to tell anyone with a pinky promise.” This student had three incidents with Lopez, police reports say.
“Marshall Lopez was terminated from his position at Pace Academy on May 1, 2025. We are grateful to the Atlanta Police Department and other law enforcement partners for their support and professionalism,” a Pace Academy spokesperson told Channel 2 Action News. “As this is part of an active investigation, we are unable to provide further comment at this time.”
Lopez was officially charged by APD on Sept. 1 and released on bond on Wednesday. He faces two charges of sexual battery on a minor.
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