Texts reveal CPS instructor asked student to have sex in school office, gym: prosecutors

Reading a series of lurid texts allegedly exchanged between a former Roosevelt High School JROTC instructor and a student he is accused of sexually assaulting, Cook County prosecutors asked a judge Thursday to keep the ex-teacher behind bars while he awaits trial.

In one of the texts, 47-year-old Brian Travis asked the girl, “Wanna come f––– me in my office?” according to prosecutors, who said Travis was referring to his office at the Albany Park high school, at 3435 W. Wilson Ave.

Travis, of Saint John, Indiana, then allegedly texted the teenage girl to be discreet: “So many eyeballs still around here.”

Once when the girl told Travis she had been at church, he responded by texting, “I’ll go to church with you. We can f––– in a pew, right?” prosecutors said.

Travis was denied bail for criminal sexual assault last week after prosecutors told a judge he was arrested while attempting to board a flight to Mexico on Christmas. He also allegedly told the girl he would kill a witness who saw them driving together.

Thursday, Travis’ attorney asked a different judge to reevaluate the denial of bail, saying that Travis had long planned to take the trip to Mexico with his family and had purchased the tickets without knowing that there was a warrant for his arrest.

But prosecutors said Travis had purchased the tickets 10 days before the flight. Even if Travis didn’t know about the warrant, he did know authorities were looking into his relationship with the student for some time, prosecutors argued.

After the girl texted Travis that she had been interviewed by investigators about the 2019 sexual encounters, Travis texted back, “OMG” and “I’m worried, some teachers have been looking at me mean,” prosecutors said.

Other text messages detailed by prosecutors Thursday included a selfie Travis allegedly texted the girl showing a hickey on his neck and a separate message that read, “I want to kidnap you and disappear.”

Travis also texted the girl about meeting him for sex at a gym and at a hotel, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege the assaults took place between January and November 2019, continuing even after Travis left the school. The girl was 16 and 17 at the time of the alleged attacks.

Judge Mary Marubio upheld the previous no bail order.

CPS officials said Travis had been working as an instructor at Roosevelt’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps since 2015, but was moved at some point to a new position as a staffing manager in the district’s JROTC office before the start of the 2019-2020 school year. He was removed from that position Dec. 3.

Prosecutors said rumors about Travis’ “interactions” with the student surfaced in April and CPS officials removed him from the school. Prosecutors also alleged that in November, Travis sent the girl messages threatening to kill her, her parents and her friends because he blamed her for his being fired from that job.

Travis is expected back in court Jan. 23.