Kayla Sprinkles, a 26-year-old former teacher in North Carolina, has been accused of having sex with an underage teenage student.
According to Cherokee County Sheriff Derrick Palmer, Sprinkles of Hayesville, North Carolina, was arrested on Thursday, June 7 on sexual assault charges. The Cherokee Country Sherriff’s Office says the investigation began “on or about March 26” after investigators received reports that Sprinkles engaged in sex acts with an unidentified student while working as a high school teacher in the Cherokee County Schools System.
via ABC:
The sheriff’s office said the multiple students were interviewed during the investigation and the HAVEN Child Advocacy Center assisted in some of the interviews because of the young ages of the individuals interviewed. On June 4, a grand jury handed down a five-count indictment for sex activity with a student.
Sprinkles, apparently learning of the indictments – possibly through social media – left the county, the sheriff’s office said. She later turned herself in to the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, where she was served with the indictments and released on a $25,000 unsecured bond.
“Our youth and our students are one of the greatest resources that Cherokee County is blessed to have,” Palmer said. “It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure their safety and wellbeing as they grow and mature.”
Sprinkles is expected to be in Cherokee County Superior Court on July 2.
Sprinkles is just the latest teacher to be charged for an alleged relationship with a teenager student. Over the course of just a few months, educators across the country were arrested for entering into an inappropriate relationship with their students, Tennessee teacher Janet Smothers, LaToya Parker, Florida teacher Caroline Lawson, 26-year-old Allyson Moran and Katherine Ross Ridenhour were all arrested on similar charges.
The list goes on to include 22-year-old Oklahoma science teacher Hunter Day, 28-year-old teacher Megan Kotarski, 23-year-old history teacher Michelle Schiffer, 29-year-old Alyssia Marie Reddy, special education teacher Jordan Ondish and 28-year-old Samantha Fitzpatrick have all been allegedly carrying on inappropriate relationships with their students.
In addition, 31-year-old Nicole Marie Andrews, 32-year-old Jessica Langford, 29-year-old Andrea Baber, 27-year-old Robin Dunlap, 27-year-old Jennifer Olajire-Aro have also been charged with these charges.
34-year-old Miranda Nicole Pauley was charged with similar crimes, Nancy Leigh Ann Brann, a former Christian school teacher, was arrested for having sex with a student, Coine Audiat pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in 2016 and 23-year-old Darci Lake was arrested for an inappropriate relationship. 27-year-old Brittany Zamora from Arizona was arrested on similar charges. Keri Hoffman, 35, was also arrested for an alleged relationship with a student. More recently, 29-year-old Tiffany Ranweiler-Oblander and 33-year-old Maren Oates were arrested on similar charges.
