A high school math teacher in central Missouri was arrested in Texas after allegedly fleeing the state amid allegations she had sex with an underage student.
Hailey Nichelle Clifton-Carmack, 26, was arrested last week while visiting family near San Antonio, Texas. Garden Ridge police said in a Facebook post that she was charged with second-degree rape, endangering the welfare of a child, sexual contact with a student and fourth-degree child abuse.
Police said Clifton-Carmack was booked into a Texas county jail and is awaiting extradition to Missouri. She is listed online as a math teacher at a high school in Laquey, Missouri – about 145 miles southwest of St. Louis.
According to court documents, a witness reported a sexual relationship between Clifiton-Carmack and another student to a school security guard, ABC 17 News reports. The station reported that the witness was shown photos of scratches from the alleged sexual interaction by the victim and that he also heard a suspicious phone conversation between Clifton-Carmack and the victim.
Shortly after police received messages between the two, a warrant was issued for their arrest and bail was set at $250,000, court records show.
ABC 17 News reported that the victim’s father was also charged with first-degree child endangerment for allegedly knowing about the sexual relationship but doing nothing to intervene. A warrant has been issued for his arrest, but it is still unclear if he has been taken into police custody.