A former teaching aide in Texas is being accused of engaging in sexual activity with three male students ages 17 and under — including one alleged encounter that happened after she put her young child to bed inside her home.
Ashlyn Faye Bell has been charged with two counts of improper relationship between educator and student and one count of sexual assault of a child stemming from the alleged incidents at her New Boston home last year, according to the Texarkana Gazette.
The 24-year-old worked at Texas High School in Texarkana until May 22 and was arrested by police in late June, the newspaper adds.
Police say they were tipped off to the alleged misconduct after a teacher at the school reported a conversation she had heard between a group of male students.
During interviews with investigators, a 17-year-old student allegedly told police he and Bell had been communicating over Snapchat during Thanksgiving break in 2019 and agreed to meet up at a truck stop, 360aproko reports.
The student alleged Bell picked him up, drove him back to her New Boston home, put her child – who was sleeping in a car seat in the back of the vehicle – to bed, and then engaged in sexual activity with him, according to 360aproko news.
The student then reportedly told police about two others that allegedly had sexual relations with Bell.
One of those students, a 17-year-old who said he was being tutored by Bell, allegedly told police he engaged in sexual activity with her at her home last fall, the Texarkana Gazette reports.
The other student, who is 16, told investigators he knew Bell from her job working in the school library and had sex with her twice in November last year following messages they exchanged over Snapchat, the newspaper adds.
The age of consent in Texas is 17.
Bell, who has been released from custody after posting bonds worth $150,000, can face two to 20 years in prison on each charge if convicted, the Texarkana Gazette reports.
