A 22-year-old assistant cheerleading coach in Indiana has been handed felony charges of child seduction after a long investigation determined that she had initiated a relationship with a 17-year-old senior at the school.
As reported by Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN and a variety of other Indianapolis outlets, Megan Crafton was arrested and handed a class D felony charge of child seduction in connection with a relationship the coach carried on with a student at Shelbyville (Ind.) High, where Crafton was an assistant cheerleading coach.
The incident brings a number of statutory rules into play, however. By Indiana law, the relationship between the two -- which was first reported to authorities in February -- would not have been illegal if it occurred in general society.
However, because Crafton was technically in a position of authority as an assistant coach -- even though she had no oversight of the student with which she had a relationship -- the action was illegal.
"We wouldn't be having this conversation if it was her and some other gentleman who doesn't go to the school or isn't part of the school system, but unfortunately in this case, it was and it made it illegal," Shelbyville Police Lieutenant Michael Turner told WXIN.
Regardless of the circumstances behind Crafton's relationship, the teacher clearly violated both moral and ethical code by consummating a sexual relationship with a teenager still in high school, even if she was recently a teen herself.
The question now may be whether whichever judge is assigned to her case shows a sense of leniency with her case because of her age.
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