Teacher accused of sex with teen student

OMAHA - Fremont police were searching Thursday for a former teacher at an Omaha school who is accused of having a two-year sexual relationship with a boy who was 15 when the relationship began.

An arrest warrant issued this week charges Brandy Reynolds, 24, of Fremont with first-degree sexual assault, a Class II felony punishable by one to 50 years in prison. She's accused of having multiple encounters involving sexual penetration with the boy between December 2004 and May 2006, according to an affidavit filed in Dodge County Court.

Fremont detective Joyce Henke said the boy, now 17, was a student at Omaha Baptist Academy, where Reynolds taught. She said the assaults occurred in Reynolds' apartment in Fremont and one other nonresidential location.

Henke said it's believed Reynolds has left town.

A complaint was filed with police April 28, after the boy's family members contacted the state Health and Human Services System. The boy is from the Fremont area, Henke said.

Omaha Baptist Academy, which has about 30 students, is affiliated with Westwood Heights Baptist Church. Pastor Ken Largent said Reynolds was an elementary teacher at the school from 2004 to 2006. She did not teach there this past academic year.

The church's attorney, Jerry Rauterkus, said Reynolds quit her teaching job on her own and that the allegations against her were not known by the church leadership until recently.

“This came as a shock to them as it did to everybody else in the Fremont community,” Rauterkus said. “She left, and they haven't heard from her since May of 2006.”

According to the affidavit, the boy's parents told Henke that they found out about the relationship from their pastor, Adam Love. Reynolds confided to Love that she and the boy had a relationship.

Love, pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Fremont, told The Associated Press that Reynolds is a friend. He declined to say whether he knew her whereabouts.

“We're in contact with the families and offer them support, and we care for those involved,” Love said, declining further comment.

An unidentified witness told police that Reynolds indicated to her that she wasn't certain how old the boy was at the time of the sexual relationship. But Reynolds said she believed the boy was 14 or 15, the affidavit said.

It is illegal in Nebraska for a person 19 or older to have sexual contact with a person under 16.

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On the Net:

Westwood Heights Baptist Church: http://westwoodheightsbaptist.org/home.html