TEACHER CAUGHT WITH MINOR STUDENT IN CAR ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED ILLICIT RELATIONS
Erin Ward, a substitute teacher in Nebraska, has recently been taken in custody by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for having sexual relations with an underage boy, as reported by PEOPLE. The authorities found her and a teenager naked in a car after they got tipped off about a suspicious vehicle parked on a dead-end street. After going to the site they saw a a gray 2015 Honda Pilot, with two people in the backseat. Seeing the police, one of them got into the front seat and began driving but crashed the car in a yard two blocks away.
After the crash, a teenage boy got out of the vehicle with almost no clothes on his body and fled the scene on foot, following which authorities found an adult female in the backseat who was recognized as Erin Ward. She was putting on her clothes when she was approached by authorities, who spotted an Omaha Public School employee ID in the SUV, after which the woman confessed that she was a substitute teacher at OPS Burke High School and two other local schools. “Ward also admitted to having sexual intercourse with the driver who she revealed was a 17-year-old male student at Burke High School,” according to a release by the police.
The police also informed the press that the vehicle in which the duo got caught, was owned by Ward and her spouse. At 4 pm the police caught the boy, who was hiding in a nearby neighborhood wearing boxer shorts, a t-shirt, and socks. The authorities took him to a safe place where he was interviewed. Ward and the teen required medical attention because of the injuries that they suffered during the crash. The teacher was arrested and charged with one count of felony sexual abuse by a school employee. There is no information about whether she has pled guilty or not to the charges. It also isn't known whether Ward has obtained an attorney for her case. At present, she is being held in the Douglas County Department of Corrections, and the investigators are not ruling out the assumption that this might not be the first time that Ward has been involved in such inappropriate relations. The authorities have asked people to contact DCSO at 402-444-6000 if they have any further information about Ward and her conduct.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.