An Atlanta elementary school assistant principal and a co-worker have resigned after recording themselves having sex in his school office.
Carnell Lee, 39, was an assistant principal at Deerwood Academy in southwest Atlanta before stepping down Jan. 9, according to Atlanta Public Schools documents obtained by Channel 2 Action News through an open records request.
The co-worker was a 28-year-old participating in a leadership internship at Deerwood Academy, where she worked as assistant principal for kindergarten through second grade before APS sought to fire her in January. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution isn’t naming her because she reported to police that she was a stalking victim, an allegation Lee denies.
The school system says in a charge letter against her that she admitted to engaging in consensual sex on top of Lee’s desk, but she wrote in a letter that she was forced into intercourse and intimidated by her superior. She resigned Feb. 7.
Lee didn’t respond to phone messages seeking comment Tuesday. Atlanta Public Schools confirmed the two are no longer employed but had no further comment.
Their relationship lasted from August until December and included sex during work hours, the APS charge letter said.
The woman called Atlanta police Jan. 5, when she alleged Lee stalked her, threatened her job and extorted money from her, according to an incident report. No criminal charges were filed against Lee, and the issue was referred to school system detectives.
Lee denied stalking her, and he said she had been pursuing him since starting her job at Deerwood, according to a letter included in his personnel file. He wrote that they had sex in his office after hours, and she often told him she loved and cared for him.
Their relationship began a few days after the two met last summer, and she wrote in a Jan. 13 account that she told him “no” five or six times during their first encounter.
Sex in his office continued at other times afterward, although she wrote in a Jan. 22 letter to an APS employee relations manager that she repeatedly told him she wanted it to stop. She wrote she felt threatened that she would lose her career, according to her letter.
The Atlanta Public Schools charge letter says she asked Lee to video record them having sex in his office in November.
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