CHOCTAW, Okla. — An Oklahoma teacher charged with sex crimes is free on bail.
Kristen Betz, 43, was arrested in April on a charge of second degree rape involving a relationship she allegedly had with a 17-year-old student.
Prosecutors charged 43-year-old Kristen Betz with seven counts of second degree rape for having an inappropriate sexual relationship with that student.
Betz posted a $175,000 bond Friday morning.
According to investigators, the relationship began this year on Valentine’s Day.
Prosecutors say 43-year-old Choctaw High School teacher Kristen Betz had sex with a 17-year-old student.
The young man told police they had sexual encounters at least 11 times in some unusual places.
He told investigators they had sex 4-5 times at the Taco Mayo in Harrah.
Police reports show they allegedly had sex 5-6 times in a JC Penney parking lot and along an unknown road in Oklahoma County.
Betz is now charged with seven counts of second degree rape.
“Typically before it gets to the authorities it’s happened much more than this, I would guess other counts would be added,” legal analyst David McKenzie said.
The age of consent in our state is 16, but there’s an extra protection under Oklahoma law for students.
“Because this was a student/teacher relationship, the Oklahoma legislature enacted a statute that takes the age of consent even further up to 18,” McKenzie said.
Legal experts tell us that statute was meant to help keep students from being preyed upon by someone who has power over them, like a teacher or principal.
It was actually another teacher from Choctaw High who discovered the illicit relationship, we’re told.
She stopped by Betz’s home with Betz’s children.
Once school officials were notified, they immediately put Betz on suspension, and word spread quickly through the district.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Betz in April while they continued investigating.
We were there when she walked out of jail.
She refused to answer any of our questions.
Thursday, prosecutors filed the rape charges against Betz, and she turned herself back into the Oklahoma County jail.
School officials told us Friday Betz is no longer employed with Choctaw-Nicoma Park Schools.
