A former Stanly County Public Schools teacher has been charged with taking indecent liberties with a student.

UPDATE: Richard Joshua Collins was convicted on Aug. 25, 2020, on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was given a suspended sentence of probation and a misdemeanor confinement program.

Richard J. Collins

Richard Joshua Collins, age 22, was arrested by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office on June 3 on a charge of felony indecent liberties with a student. He was also initially charged with misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which was later dropped.

Collins was issued a $10,000 secure bond which he posted and was released.

Collins was hired as a music teacher for Stanly High and the middle school in August 2019. Records indicate that he was issued a North Carolina teaching license just a month prior, on July 1, 2019.

According to Stanly County schools, Collins resigned on May 4. It is unclear why he resigned or if the resignation was given with 30 days notice. A district official said that he did pass a background check.

Collins has an active North Carolina Teacher license on file in the area of Music K-12, which was issued July 1, 2019, and expires June 30, 2022, unless revoked in advance. He is the fifteenth teacher arrest tracked by this website in 2020.

This is the second teacher in Stanly County to be arrested this year. In March, substitute teacher Khadija Wilkins, age 43, was charged with threatening felony mass violence on education property and misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a public building.