Hervey Nava

Arrested and charged; fired following arrest; presumption of innocence. A North Texas school district custodian faces a second-degree felony indecency count after a 13-year-old student reported that he hugged and inappropriately touched her in a classroom — an allegation the district answered with leave and then termination.

Introduction

Hervey Nava, 62, was a custodian at Gainesville Junior High School in the Gainesville Independent School District when a 13-year-old female student reported that he hugged and inappropriately touched her while they were in a classroom . He was arrested and charged with indecency with a child by sexual contact, a second-degree felony punishable by two to twenty years in prison . The district placed him on administrative leave and later fired him following his arrest . He has been charged but not tried and is presumed innocent.

Background Information

Nava had worked for Gainesville ISD since the 2023-24 school year, according to online employment records cited by Texas Scorecard . The incident report reached police on October 8, 2026, when Gainesville officers responded to a report of an incident at the school and met with the student and her mother . The girl told officers that Nava hugged and inappropriately touched her while they were in a classroom, and that she left the room and immediately reported the incident to a school employee . The district stated the student alleged Nava “made inappropriate physical contact with her” and “made her feel very uncomfortable” .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The police report set off the criminal case: Gainesville police investigated the October 8 complaint, and Nava was arrested on October 16, 2026, booked into the Cooke County Jail on the indecency charge . The Gainesville Police Department publicly confirmed the arrest in an October 19 statement, eight days after the initial report . Gainesville ISD said the district “takes the safety and well-being of its students seriously and remains committed to maintaining a safe learning environment for all students” . The district’s disciplinary sequence — administrative leave first, firing after the arrest — tracked the allegation from school complaint to criminal charge within roughly a week .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Gainesville Police Chief Kevin Phillips said the investigation is ongoing and asked anyone with information to contact the department, an open call for additional victims or witnesses a week after the arrest . Nava is listed in the state’s Do Not Hire Registry as “under investigation,” making him ineligible for hire by Texas public schools while the case proceeds . The case drew attention in part because of the defendant’s role: Texas Scorecard’s coverage noted hundreds of Texas school employees, including custodians, have been accused of sex crimes involving students, and catalogued a string of comparable custodian cases across the state — including a College Station elementary custodian charged with promoting child sexual abuse material and continuous sexual abuse of a child, a Gilmer intermediate-school custodian arrested for invasive visual recording in a boys’ bathroom, and a United ISD custodian charged with improper relationship between educator and student . No public statement from Nava or an attorney on his behalf has been reported .

Current Status

Nava remained in the Cooke County Jail following his October 16 arrest, with the second-degree felony charge pending and no trial date reported . The police investigation is open . His Do Not Hire listing stands, and no plea has been entered .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Nava’s firing, arrest and registry listing end his school-employment career at sixty-two, with a felony charge carrying up to twenty years now the defining fact of his record . The case documented for Gainesville — a district that had hired him only three school years earlier — how a single classroom allegation moved from student report to termination in days, and it joined the statewide ledger of non-teaching staff charged in student sex-crime cases that Texas Scorecard maintains . The girl’s immediate report to a school employee, and the speed of the district’s response, became the case’s distinguishing facts .

Sources

• Texas Scorecard, “Gainesville ISD Custodian Jailed for Sexual Contact With Student,” October 27, 2026 — source