Another high school teacher arrested for having sexual relationship with student
A biology teacher at a high school has been arrested after it was found that she allegedly had a sexual relationship with one of the students in the school she was teaching at. 34-year-old Miranda Pauley has been officially charged with four felony counts of indecent liberties by a custodian.
Pauley is the latest in a string of incidents involving teachers across the country having indecent sexual relationships with underage students. She is a former teacher of the Patrick Henry High School in Ashland in Virginia. Pauley was also charged with one felony count of use of a communication system for crimes against children.
According to WTVR, at least one of the incidents that involved her and the student took place on school grounds. The alleged relationship is said to have happened in November and December of 2017 and then again in May 2018.
On May 31 afternoon, Pauley was escorted out of the school by police officers. The disgraced teached has been fired from the school after her arrest. She joined the school as a teacher in 2006.
Chris Whitley, a spokesperson for the Hanover County Public Schools, said that the news of the sexual relationship between the teacher and the student was "disturbing".
He said in a statement on the day she was arrested: "We take these matters seriously. We became aware of the arrest this afternoon and immediately referred it to our Human Resources Department."
"While our policy prohibits the release of specific details concerning personnel-related matters, we will continue to work closely and in full cooperation with the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office."
The disgraced teacher was given a $50,000 bond on June 1. She is also not allowed to have any contact with the alleged victim or with anyone under the age of 18 unless they are accompanied by their parents.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, she is also not allowed to leave the state of Virginia unless she gets a court permission to do the same. She is also only permitted a single trip to the school building just to pick up her personal belongings.
A preliminary hearing is set to take place on July 12. Pauley is the second teacher from the Patrick Henry High School who has been arrested on sex charges in less than six months.
45-year-old Walter Summerfield was charged in December 2017 with four counts of indecent liberties by a custodian. He was an instructor with the school's Navy Junior Training Corps and he was allegedly involved in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student while spring break took place.
Another teacher was sentenced to a year in jail and five months on probation on May 30 this year after she was found guilty of having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old student of hers.
Timothy O'Connell, the Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge, sentenced 32-year-old Jessica Langford for three of the charges for sexual battery. The former teacher and the student were reported to have had sexual intercourse inside a classroom, at the Miamisburg Middle School, which was locked.
Langford is a married mother of one child from Centerville. She had taught mathematics for nine years at the school till the day she resigned from her position as teacher at the end of May after the sexual misconduct allegations became public.
She told the judge in court, "There isn't a day goes by that I don't wish I could do things differently. I know I am fully responsible." The 14-year-old victim's father asked that Langford be given the maximum sentence for violating his child, which is around 15 years in jail.
He said in court, "She was entrusted with the care of the children and students and threw it away for her own sexual gratification."
The man also said that his son had to go through the stress and trauma that comes with being in a trial and that he is now being treated differently by everyone in his school.
The father said, "He feels embarrassed and alone. He's bullied constantly at school and feels helpless and alone."
The jury reached the verdict for Langford on April 13 after they deliberated for five hours that was spread out across two days. Langford was charged with six counts of sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
She was convicted of three of these charges. The victim, who is now 15 years old, recalled the sexual encounter that he had with Langford for the court. The incident took place on the last day of school in May 2017 and it happened inside a locked classroom at the Miamisburg Middle School.
According to a report by WHIO, the teen told the jury in the court: "We started kissing, she went in for a kiss and it escalated from there."
The teen told the court that he and Langford had then engaged in multiple sexual acts that included intercourse and oral sex. They were in the locked classroom for about 20 to 30 minutes before the principal knocked on the door and they stopped abruptly.
Allegedly, Langford told her student to hide underneath a table and then she left with the principal. She came back later and then allegedly told the student to "stick to the story" and maintain that he was in the room stacking desks.
The boy explained to the jury about the affair with Langford, "It felt uncomfortable...I thought it was wrong."
In the teen's testimony that was presented earlier in the trial, he had said that he and Langford had connected with each other on Snapchat.
When his teacher had allegedly asked him why he was reaching out to her, he had replied that he wanted to have sex with her. The defense in the court immediately questioned the boy's credibility and they even pointed out that he had repeatedly denied having sex with Langford last year.
The teen then explained to the court that he had lied in the beginning about the relationship he had with his former teacher because he did not want his teenage girlfriend to find out about the affair and break up with him.