CHOCTAW, Okla. — A metro high school teacher has been arrested. She’s accused of raping a high school student.
Kristen Betz, 43, was taken into custody on a charge of second degree rape involving a relationship she allegedly had with a 17-year-old student.
Choctaw School officials say they took immediate action as soon as they became aware of the allegations, suspending the teacher and reporting the accusations to police.
Residents in Choctaw were shocked at the news of a high school teacher accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old student.
Betz walked out of the Oklahoma County Jail Thursday, refusing to answer any questions.
“There were multiple locations throughout Oklahoma County, primarily parking lots and different businesses where this would take place,” Mark Myers, with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, said.
The case was initially reported to Choctaw Police by school officials who had received word of the relationship from multiple sources.
The case has since been handed over to Oklahoma County.
“At this point, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office is investigating due to the fact that some of the incidents happened in our jurisdiction, it’s actually multi-jurisdictional,” Myers said.
Investigators say they are still working to figure out certain details of the alleged relationship, but they believe it just recently started.
“Less than a couple of months is what we’re told, they had contact several times,” Myers said.
There were also reportedly inappropriate text messages exchanged.
Investigators say, at this time, they believe she was only allegedly involved with this one student.
Parents we spoke to were surprised, saying they never would have expected something like this from this teacher.
The Choctaw superintendent did not want to talk on camera but said, “When we were made aware we reacted very quickly. The safety of our students is paramount.”
Betz was arrested Wednesday night on charges of second degree rape.
She was released on a $10,000 bail Thursday.
