A former Metro Nashville teacher has been arrested in California amid allegations that she had physical contact with a student.
Officials with Metro Nashville Police said Janai Mercedes Smothers, a former Maplewood High School teacher, was taken into custody Monday afternoon in Fresno.
The 25-year-old had been indicted by a Nashville grand jury, charging her with sexual battery by an authority figure.
Police determined she was likely in the Fresno area and she was taken into custody at a local school.
Smothers has been accused of having unlawful physical contact at Maplewood with a teenage female student during the 2015-16 school year.
The indictment was handed down following an investigation from Metro’s Sex Crimes Unit. Smothers’ return to Nashville was pending California court proceedings.
