Ex-NISD instructional aide indicted, accused of assaulting and sexually abusing student with autism

Jacob Hallam, 20, faces 11-count indictment

Jacon Hallam. (KSAT)

SAN ANTONIO – A former instructional assistant at Connally Middle School was indicted Wednesday on charges that he violently assaulted a student with a disability, touched her genitals and forced the girl to touch his genitals during a series of incidents earlier this year.

Jacob Hallam, 20, was arrested late Thursday, a day after the 11-count indictment was handed up by a Bexar County grand jury, booking records show.

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Hallam, who resigned from Northside Independent School District in March while under investigation by several agencies, was first charged in May with felony injury to a child-disabled.

Wednesday’s indictment added a long list of additional charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and indecency with a child-sexual contact.

Over a four-week period from late January to late February, Hallam was accused of using his arm to choke the girl, shaking, striking, headbutting and kicking her and slamming her head on a desk, charging paperwork states.

Separately, Hallam is accused of touching the girl’s genitals and forcing her to touch his genitals, records show.

The incidents occurred across nine different days, according to records.

The girl is non-verbal and has autism, records show.

Hallam was first investigated after the girl’s parents reported concerns to the campus, an NISD spokesman previously said.

Hallam was still being processed into jail as of Friday afternoon, a jail official confirmed to KSAT.

Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.


About the Authors

Emmy-award winning reporter Dillon Collier joined KSAT Investigates in September 2016. Dillon's investigative stories air weeknights on the Nightbeat and on the Six O'Clock News. Dillon is a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Reporter of the Year.

David Ibañez has been managing editor of KSAT.com since the website's launch in October 2000.

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