A Florida middle school teacher and soccer coach has been arrested for having sexual relationship with a student for years. Hayley Morgan Hallmark, 35, would have sex with a 15-year-old girl for over two years, including several encounters inside the classroom. Hallmark was arrested on Friday on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct with a student by an authority figure.
Hallmark would often lure the girl on false pretext and have sex with her inside the classroom. The allegations came to light only recently after the girl decided to speak out. Hallmark is being held without bond in Okaloosa County Jail. If proved guilty, she could end up serving years in jail.
Caught Finally
The girl, now 17, reportedly, kept silent for two years till she recently decided to confide about their relationship with another teacher at Niceville High School. The high school teacher then reported the allegations to the school resource officer last Thursday, following which Hallmark was placed on administrative leave the same day.
The victim told investigators that when she was an eighth-grader at the school, Hallmark started exchanging text messages with her, said the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office. That was in 2017. A year later, the pair started sexting. Hallmark and the girl would often trade nude photographs and talk about cuddling on Snapchat, an arrest report shows.
Soon the relationship turned sexual. According to the victim, she and Hallmark had multiple sexual encounters in the teacher's classroom after school, and also at her home on Destin, reported ClickOrlando. This would go on for more than two years and Halmark would regularly have sex with her student. The sexual encounters between the teacher and the teen finally ended in August 2020, when the girl was 17.
Dangerous Encounters
Hallmark would make sure that no one got to know about their relationship and would manipulate the classroom cameras during their sexual encounters. "[The teen] explained the defendant and she would perform these acts in the classroom by tilting the classroom cameras away and leaning against the classroom door so no one could enter," according to the police report.
Following the arrest of Hallmark, the teen during investigations allowed an investigator to look through the contents of her phone, which reportedly revealed that the two indeed has been engaging in sexual acts for over two years. This has been used as evidence against Hallmark, according to court documents.
According to Hallmark's profile on the Ruckel Middle School's website, she has taught eighth-grade advanced US history and sixth-grade world cultures. Hallmark was placed on administrative leave Thursday, one day before a warrant was issued for her arrest. She is currently being held without bail and following further investigations, and more charges can be slapped on her.
