A former Ohio schoolteacher is accused of having a sexual relationship with a student over a three-year period.
And according to an interview conducted with the boy's father by WEWS-TV in Cleveland, the boy and teacher had a baby together.
Laura Lynn Cross, 36, has been indicted on three counts of sexual battery over a period allegedly spanning from Aug. 1, 2013, through Sept. 6, 2016. She was a teacher at Buchtel High School in Tallmadge, Ohio, just outside Akron.
The boy's father told WEWS that he first went to Buchtel High School officials and Tallmadge police about the teacher in 2012, when his son was a freshman. But he said no charges were filed.
“First of all, she’s a schoolteacher,” the boy’s father said. “To get aroused by a child, basically, you have to be a sick individual.”
Cross quit teaching at the school in January 2015.
WEWS reported that Cross apparently convinced the boy's mother, who had custody of her son, to allow the teen to move in with Cross through a court-approved "partial parental custody" arrangement. She reportedly convinced the mother that she could "mentor" the boy.
Charges weren't filed, however, until police learned that Cross and the boy allegedly had a baby together in 2015, WEWS reported. The boy's father knew nothing about that until a tipster phoned him and asked him if he knew he was a grandfather, he said in the WEWS interview.
“It was a straight failure from the system,” said the boy’s father said. “From the school and … definitely [from the police].”
An Akron School System spokesperson said the district was unaware of the case until a WEWS investigation alerted them, but said officials are now "doing [their] own internal investigation going back to 2012 to determine what exactly happened and when it happened."
Cross has been jailed, and her bond has been set at $100,000.
About the Author
