Tuesday’s announcement by the Blount County Sheriff’s Office on the arrest of a former high school teacher in Georgia and subsequent extradition back to Tennessee to face several child sex charges
Taken into police custody Tuesday morning in Georgia, 51-year-old Shane Rewis of Maryville is facing extradition to Tennessee on multiple charges. He was charged earlier this month on two counts of persistent sexual abuse of a child, trafficking for a commercial sex act, three counts of electronic minor exploitation, and sexual exploitation of a minor by a Blount County Grand Jury.
Beginning in May, the sheriff’s office investigated Rewis after two minor victims claimed he had contacted them electronically using improper comments and images, BCSO said. Another juvenile victim turned up throughout the inquiry.
Following his indictment, investigators from the sheriff’s office as well as agents from the U.S. Marshals Service Smoky Mountain Fugitive Task Force and the Southeast Regional Task Force started looking for Rewis, the sheriff’s office reported. Early Tuesday morning he was arrested; presently he is housed in the Seminole County Jail.
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office verified to 6 News in October that it was looking at Rewis, but it withheld information on the substance of the inquiry. Rewis was formerly a teacher at Heritage High, according to Blount County Schools; his personnel file showed that he left the school in September.
Reports found within the personnel file indicated showed Rewis was under investigation for “inappropriate communication with a student that is explicit,” and that the correspondence with students was conducted over social media.
