(LibertySociety.com) – A 45-year-old female teacher in Omaha has been charged with felony wanton abuse by a school employee after she was caught in the backseat of her vehicle with a 17-year-old boy.
Erin Ward was working as a guest teacher at Burke High School, where she met the boy. On April 23, deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office responded to a suspicious vehicle and found Ward and her victim “undressed” inside her Honda Pilot. They both jumped to redress. The boy leaped into the driver’s seat of the vehicle and sped off, but crashed two blocks down the road. He fled the vehicle and ran away with only half of his clothes on. He was located by authorities and taken to “a safe place to receive care and be interviewed.”
Ward’s employee ID badge was found in the vehicle and she admitted to having intercourse with the student. She was transported to the hospital for treatment from minor injuries sustained during the accident. Ward is not facing statutory rape charges since Nebraska’s age of consent is 16, but she is facing up to 20 years in prison for the Class IIA felony for wantonly abusing a student as a school employee. .
The sheriff’s office said that it was working with Omaha Public Schools in its ongoing investigation. Burke High School Principal Darren Rasmussen released a statement after Ward was arrested, acknowledging the “inappropriate conduct with a minor.” He assured the public that she would not be working in any school in the district again and that counseling would be available for students at the school.
The Daily Mail reported that Ward’s Harvard-educated husband is a prominent employee at the Department of Defense and has worked there for almost two decades. His LinkedIn profile shows that he began working in Strategic Command in 2005. The couple share three children, one of whom is close in age with the student Ward was abusing.
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