Cherokee teacher charged with sex assault on teen girl

A Cherokee County middle school teacher was arrested Friday afternoon and charged with sexually assaulting a female student.

Steven Emanuel, 46, of Woodstock, was arrested by detectives with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office on charges of child molestation and sexual assault of a person in custody.

Emanuel, a teacher at Creekland Middle School, is accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old at the school on Sept. 25. According to the sheriff’s office, the attack was initially reported to school police and then turned over to county investigators.

Emanuel was being held without bond late Friday in the Cherokee Adult Detention Center.

He has worked in the school system since 2001, said Mike McGowan, the system’s spokesman.

School board members were notified late Friday by e-mail of Emanuel’s arrest and were told the superintendent will conduct an internal investigation and then recommend whether the teacher should be fired.

The e-mail stated that Emanuel was reassigned from his teaching position two weeks ago at the start of the criminal and internal investigations.