26-Year-Old Teacher and Softball Coach Accused of Sexual Relationship With Student

A North Carolina teacher has been arrested and charged after she reportedly had a sexual relationship with a student.

Kayla Sprinkles, 26, of Hayesville, North Carolina, was arrested by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, June 7, and indicted on five counts of sexual activity with a student, according to ABC 11.

An investigation into Sprinkles, a new teacher and softball coach at Andrews High School, began "on or about March 26" of this year after authorities became aware of allegations that the 26-year-old had engaged in a sexual relationship with a student while she was a teacher in the Cherokee County Schools System, the sheriff's office said.

The investigation, which included interviewing students at the school with the assistance of the HAVEN Child Advocacy Center, found that Sprinkles had a relationship with the student from December 2016 until April 2017, during which time they engaged in sex acts.

After learning of the indictments, which grand jury handed down on June 4, Sprinkles reportedly left the county, though she later returned and turned herself in to the Mecklenburg County Detention Center.

Sprinkles, who has not yet entered a plea, has since been released on a $25,000 unsecured bond. Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 2.

Sprinkles is just the latest teacher to face charges stemming from an alleged relationship with a student.

Katherine Harper, 28, a middle school English teacher, cheerleading coach, and tennis coach at Tidwell Middle School in Roanoke, Texas, was sentenced to six years in prison and 10 years' probation after she pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a child and one count of having an improper relationship with a student.

Harper had begun a relationship with a 15-year-old student and was arrested in April 2017 when she was eight months pregnant, though it has not been stated if the student was the father of her child.

In May, 31-year-old Jessica Langford, a married mother-of-one, was found guilty on six counts of sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor after she reportedly had a sexual encounter with an eighth grade student inside of her classroom at Miamisburg Middle School in Ohio, where she taught English, on the last day of school. The encounter was interrupted when the school's principal knocked on the locked classroom door.

Langford had been found guilty in April and later sentenced to one year in prison and five years' probation.