Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault. Please return to the homepage if you are uncomfortable. If you are in distress and need to speak with someone, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Hays County jury convicted a former teacher on Oct. 16 of the continuous sexual abuse of a child and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to a press release from the Hays County District Attorney’s Office on Monday.
Andrew Palmore, 53, formerly of Kyle, Texas, worked at multiple schools in Central Texas between 2000 and 2022. KXAN previously reported that Palmore worked at Blanco Vista Elementary in San Marcos, Casey Elementary in Austin, Cedar Creek Elementary in Bastrop Independent School District, and in Del Valle ISD.
The Kyle Police Department arrested Palmore in March 2022, and the Hays Consolidated ISD board of trustees voted to fire him after the arrest.
Austin ISD told KXAN after Palmore’s arrest that it had investigated him, but said he resigned in 2004 because he was moving. Hays CISD also said that it placed Palmore on leave in 2020 following an allegation that he inappropriately touched a student.
Del Valle, Bastrop and the Texas Education Agency told KXAN in 2022 that they didn’t have any prior investigations or reports of misconduct.
“It was apparent from the testimony of the witnesses that Palmore used his position as a teacher to gain access to an untold number of children and to garner the trust of the community and the parents,” said Hays County District Attorney Kelly Higgins in the release. “It is impossible to know the true extent of Palmore’s sexual abuse, which spanned more than two decades.”
In addition to the charge he was convicted of, Hays County court records show 13 counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of attempted indecency with a child by sexual contact. However, those records listed the charges as “abandoned charges.”
Higgins’ office said six children and two adults, former students of Palmore’s in the early 2000s, testified at the trial.
Hays County Assistant District Attorneys Daniella Garcia and Elizabeth Schmidt prosecuted the case. In the press release, they thanked the survivors, the victim assistant coordinator and Kyle Police Detective Pedro Carrasco Jr. for his work investigating the case.
“Children are the most vulnerable members of our society, and today, the children of Hays County have been made safer by ensuring a dangerous sexual predator will never have access to another child again. Bringing this predator to justice was truly a team and community effort,” Schmidt said. “We hope the victims find some measure of reassurance knowing that they are safer, and they have the community’s support.”
An attorney for Palmore filed a notice of appeal in the case on Oct. 16, the same day that Palmore was sentenced.
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