Former Madison County teacher charged with grooming a 15-year-old student
A former Triad High School teacher is facing felony charges over allegations that he groomed a 15-year-old girl who was his student.
Michael L. Smargiassi, 59, of Highland, was arrested and charged Friday with the following offenses:
- Official misconduct, a Class 3 felony
- Two counts of grooming, Class 4 felonies
- Battery, a Class A misdemeanor, referring to “physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature” with the student
Smargiassi had his first appearance in court Monday and is in the process of retaining an attorney.
According to court records, Smargiassi is accused of writing emails and text messages to the student, brushing up against the student’s knee and making inappropriate comments to her while he was a public school teacher for Triad Community Unit School District 2 in Troy.
Smargiassi allegedly told her to text him and then delete the messages, according to the prosecution’s summary of the girl’s interview with investigators in a court filing.
Police obtained his cellphone through a search warrant, but as of Friday when the document was filed, Smargiassi had not given officers his passcode to unlock the device.
Investigators found screenshots of teenage girls’ social media posts in a “partial extraction” of the phone as well as a laptop, the court filing states.
In a statement to the Belleville News-Democrat, Triad Superintendent Jason Henderson said Smargiassi resigned from the school district last fall. Henderson declined to comment on the investigation except to say that the district cooperated with law enforcement.
“In accordance with standard procedures, details of investigations involving current or former district personnel must remain confidential,” Henderson wrote in the statement. “... Our focus remains on fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for all students and staff. The safety and well-being of our students is — and will always be — our highest priority.”
Court records detailing the investigation state that school officials first learned of the allegations against Smargiassi from two students who reported the teacher was having inappropriate communication with the 15-year-old student on Oct. 7, 2024.
School officials found hundreds of pages of emails between Smargiassi and the girl starting on Aug. 21, 2024, according to the court filing. They placed Smargiassi on administrative leave before his resignation.
Just a year earlier, Triad settled a federal lawsuit filed by a former student who alleged school officials failed to protect him from sexual harassment by another teacher.
The lawsuit involved allegations that former Triad Middle School teacher Erin M. Garwood harassed a boy from the fall of his eighth-grade year through high school.
Garwood was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay restitution as part of a plea agreement to dismiss two felony charges filed against her: indecent solicitation of a child and grooming. She pleaded guilty to a lesser crime: harassment through electronic communication, a Class B misdemeanor.
The school district denied the allegations of wrongdoing in the former student’s lawsuit. The amount paid by the district’s insurance as part of the settlement was not immediately available Monday.
Smargiassi’s next court appearance will be for a detention hearing to determine if he will be released from jail until his trial.
An assessment determined Smargiassi’s risk of failure to appear and rearrest is low, court records show.
But the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed a petition to detain him, citing comments Smargiassi allegedly made about fleeing to Australia and telling a coworker that she may never see him again as part of the prosecution’s argument.
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM.
