Elizabeth Madrid, a 29-year-old former teacher in Bethany, Oklahoma, has been arrested and charged after she allegedly had an illicit sexual relationship with a teenage boy.
According to the Bethany Police Department, Madrid — a former teacher in the Putnam City school district — was arrested on Friday, March 1 and charged with 30 counts of second-degree child rape and lewd acts with a child.
Following her arrest, Madrid was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail.
Investigators say that Madrid’s illicit relationship with the teen began as a “texting relationship” in 2017, became physical in 2018, and continued until Madrid’s arrest on March 1.
Additionally, Lt. Angelo Orefice with the Bethany Police Department said that the school district is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation.
Madrid, who is no longer employed by the Bethany School District (she left her position with the district in May 2018), remains at Oklahoma County Jail on a $550,000 bond.
Since the beginning of 2019 alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida. Additionally, Texas teacher Meredith Null was arrested on similar charges.
As for why there has been an increase in teacher’s being charged with sex-related crimes over recent years, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.