A North Carolina mother used a popular but controversial tracking app, only to find out that her son was having sex with his high school teacher in her car, according to reports. The unnamed parent had installed the Life 360 app on her son's device after getting suspicious when she was alerted of his absence from rugby practice.
Instead, the app strangely indicated that the son was lingering near a park nearby. This made the mother grow more suspicious. The concerned mother then drove to the Mecklenburg location only to find her son in a compromising position with 26-year-old South Mecklenburg High School teacher Gabriela Cartaya-Neufeld, as reported by WSOC.
Caught by His Mother
After taking several images of the teacher's vehicle and license plate, the shocked mother contacted the police, leading to the teacher, Gabriela Cartaya-Neufeld, being arrested at the scene.
Police said that the parent had been aware of rumors surrounding her son's illicit relationship with his teacher and was already vigilant before noticing the conspicuous absence from practice.
According to prosecutors, Cartaya-Neufeld, a science teacher, engaged in a romantic encounter with the teenager in her car, inside the mother's home, and at her own home. They would also regularly have sex in the car and at the home of both the teen and her own.
Rumors of the illicit relationship had been flying around the school for months before the arrest. This led administrators to interrogate both the teenager and his teacher, as disclosed by the district attorney during Cartaya-Neufeld's arraignment.
Arrested and Charged for Sex with Teen
The teacher faced five charges of felony sexual activity with a student. Cartaya-Neufeld was initially taken to the Mecklenburg County jail late last month but has since been released on bail.
Life 360, a tracking app that includes Randi Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg's sister, as a board member, has gained popularity among "helicopter" parents seeking to keep tabs on their children.
The technology has the capability to alert a parent if the device holder is inside a moving vehicle exceeding the speed limit or has departed from a pre-defined location.
Life 360 boasts around 50 million active monthly users and was expected to generate earnings of $300 million in the current year.
However, critics have raised concerns about the app's pervasive and occasionally intrusive nature, as well as its data collection practices.
Activists combating human trafficking have proposed that victims may be monitored using the app, although company representatives have dismissed such instances as uncommon occurrences.
Teens and young adults whose parents use the app have also cried foul, leading to entire Reddit threads dedicated to strategies on how to deceive or deactivate it.
