Md. Biology Teacher Accused of Sexually Abusing Boy, 16, Multiple Times in Car: 'Sicken[ing]'
Jeff Truesdell PeopleFebruary 6, 2020, 10:52 AM EST
Police arrested a Maryland high school biology teacher Wednesday after alleging she had multiple sexual encounters with a minor, including the first one in her car in a Kmart parking lot when the boy was 16.
“The charges against Meredith Martin sicken me to my core and besmirch the incredible work teachers across our county do with children every single day,” Anne Arundel County Public Schools Superintendent George Arlotto said in a statement following the arrest, reports WBAL.
“No one who acts in the way in which Meredith Martin has been accused of acting should be around any children in any school,” said the superintendent.
Martin, 37, of Davidsonville, was named in a written statement submitted by the minor to the school board, and the student then allegedly disclosed “numerous sexual encounters with the teacher/suspect” when he was interviewed by detectives on January 16, Anne Arundel County police said in a news release.
Martin has not yet entered a plea, and court documents did not list an attorney who might speak on her behalf.
According to charging documents, the boy said Martin was his biology teacher when they had sex three or four times between November and December 2018, reports The Baltimore Sun. He said the teacher had proposed exchanging phone numbers, and they later traded text messages before agreeing to meet for their first encounter in the Kmart parking lot.
Later encounters occurred in the same parking lot as well as a park-and-ride lot on a state highway, the documents state.
Police say Martin told the boy not to tell anyone, and he initially didn’t report it because he was afraid.
Police began their investigation on January 30, when officers were summoned to South River High School in Edgewater by administrators who reported the teen and the teacher were earlier “seen together initiating inappropriate contact,” according to the police news release.
Martin is charged with five counts of sex abuse of a minor, eight counts of a fourth-degree sex offense involving a person in a position of authority and two counts of perverted practice, police said.
“Our school system removed her from her teaching position last year the minute we received the first allegation, and she has been working in a position in which she has had no contact with children since that time,” said the superintendent’s statement. “We will continue to cooperate with our partners in law enforcement, and make decisions on any future AACPS employment after the legal matters are settled.”
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/md-biology-teacher-accused-sexually-155206564.html