Former Faith Academy Teacher Sentenced to Prison in Student Sex Crimes
By Dale Hines
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
September 15, 2026
MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. A former Faith Academy teacher and boys’ soccer coach has pleaded guilty and been sentenced after having sexual intercourse with a student.
Jonathan Sauers was arrested in March 2023 after a 16-year-old student told her parents she was going to the Semmes Walmart to pick up school supplies and did not immediately return home.
Mobile County Sheriff’s Office officials said her parents became concerned after an hour and a half had passed and she still hadn’t returned, leading them to head to the store.
The girl’s parents located her vehicle but could not find her. They contacted the Semmes Police Department, and an officer later located the girl walking down Moffett Road, SPD officials said at the time.
After an investigation by several law enforcement agencies, Sauers was arrested and on Monday, September 14, 2026, he pleaded guilty in court to two counts of a school employee engaging in a sex act with a student under the age of 19.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said that if former Faith Academy teacher and boys’ soccer coach Jonathan Sauers had not taken a plea deal, his sentences would’ve been served back-to-back, which would have been 40 years.
“We felt comfortable if this case had to go to trial — that if the defendant wanted to assert that right — and we were forced to make the victim testify, we would have asked for consecutive sentences,” Blackwood said.
The now 20-year-old victim’s parents were in the courtroom to face Sauers as he learned his sentence.
Blackwood said that they had a strong case and a strong young woman who was victimized by
“Our children deserve to be protected when they’re at school. Not only was it inappropriate. It was criminal,” said Blackwood.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said Sauers was sentenced to 20 years in prison on both counts to run concurrently.
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