Former Cypress Christian School Coach Charged With Grooming Minor, Cruelty to Children

A former Cypress Christian School coach, Jared Randall Barber, 35, is in custody after new charges were filed against him in connection with alleged sexual grooming of a male student who had moved to Georgia. Authorities picked him up in Louisiana on Thursday as a fugitive, and he is being transferred to Georgia.

Barber was indicted in August on three criminal counts: grooming of a minor, a felony punishable by one to five years in prison; criminal attempt to commit grooming of a minor, also a felony; and electronically furnishing obscene material to minors, a misdemeanor. The August indictment alleges that sexual communications between Barber and the boy took place between July 2024 and April 2026, while Barber was working as a secondary school teacher and coach at Cypress Christian School in the Houston area. According to that indictment, Barber engaged in a “pattern” of sexual communication with a minor using an electronic device to “persuade and induce said child to engage in a sexual offense.”

This week, a grand jury indicted Barber on three new charges: cruelty to children in the first degree, a felony punishable by 5 to 20 years in prison, and two added counts of grooming of a minor and electronically furnishing obscene material to minors. These are charges, not findings of guilt, and the matter remains a pending criminal case.

Cypress Christian fired Barber in April over allegations of “inappropriate” communications with an underage male student at the school who had moved to Georgia. Families believe Barber targeted male students for years while working at private schools in Texas and other states, but the reporting does not establish that claim, and Barber changed jobs frequently and was never reported to authorities.

Before joining CCS in 2023, Barber taught or coached at several private and Christian schools in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. These included Fort Worth Christian School in North Richland Hills (2020-2023), Lee Academy in Mississippi (2019-2020), Riverdale Academy in Louisiana (2018), Dallas Christian School (2017-2018), Grapevine Faith Christian School (2017), and homeschool programs in Shreveport, Louisiana. Barber does not hold a Texas teaching certificate and is not on the state’s Do Not Hire Registry. Each of those facts points to the kind of accountability owed by those entrusted with young people (Luke 12:48).

In a statement to Texas Scorecard, Cypress Christian School said it was aware of Barber’s arrest and continues to cooperate with law enforcement in Georgia and Texas. The school said that because this is an ongoing criminal matter, it will not speculate about the evidence or the outcome of the proceedings and cannot comment further. “Our foremost concern remains the safety and well-being of our students and families,” the statement said.

Separately, two top Cypress Christian School administrators were fired last week for undisclosed reasons, and CCS President Jeff Potts remains on administrative leave pending the outcome of a personnel review. Kris Hogan, the school’s director of culture and former football coach, was fired on October 28 by Interim Head of School Patrick Reents, following a board recommendation to terminate his employment. Hogan, who is also a motivational coach and speaker, had been on leave for months while a third-party reviewer investigated unspecified “concerns” raised over the summer. The board said it will not release the full report or share details of the personnel review “to protect the privacy of the students, families and staff who participated.”

Reents also fired the school’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, David Swan, effective November 30, for reasons Reents said he would not discuss.

Source: Read the original report