Stacey Johnson, 32

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – A relationship between a Greendale Middle School teacher and a Lawrenceburg High School student did not become illegal until the teacher got his job.

Aurora resident Stacey Johnson, 32, was arrested Wednesday on four felony counts of Child Seduction. If convicted on all counts Johnson could be sentenced to up to 12 years behind bars, in addition to losing his teaching license.

Court documents state Johnson admitted to entering a relationship with the 16-year-old girl in June as the two were working alone on a Rivertown Players stage production. Johnson said he and the teen talked agreeing that their feelings for each other were okay.

The teen told police that as they worked on the play together she “started to have a crush on him like someone would on a celebrity.”

That encounter and others throughout the summer were legal as 16 is the age of sexual consent under Indiana law. The teen told investigators she had sexual contact with Johnson between 10 and 15 times until her parent’s discovery of the relationship through text messages on Oct. 22.

Then in August, Johnson was hired as a choir teacher at Greendale Middle School. That same law states sexual intercourse between a person employed by a school district and a student in that district is illegal, regardless of their age under 18.

However, the relationship continued with encounters occurring at school as recently as this month.

Johnson remains held in the Dearborn County Jail on a $2,500 cash and $25,000 surety bond as of Friday morning. He is scheduled to appear in Dearborn Superior Court I in January.

LINKS:

L'burg Teacher Accused of Sex with Student