A female Georgia school administrator was arrested and charged with sex crimes for allegedly raping a student and giving others alcohol during a Halloween party. Rachelle Louise Terry, 43, was charged with 10 counts of serving alcohol to minors and engaging in a sexual relationship with one of her students.
Terry is the Murray County school system's director of Enrollment, Data Collections, and Federal Programs in Georgia. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that Terry is being held in the Murray County Jail. The age of consent in Georgia is 16. Anyone below that age cannot consent. The age of the students involved in her case are still not known.
Sexual Predator
According to The Dalton Daily Citizen, sheriff Jimmy Davenport received a complaint from one of the parents on November 9 regarding children being served alcohol at a Halloween party, which sparked an investigation that resulted in Terry's arrest.
Davenport reportedly asked that the Murray County District Attorney's office take over the investigation because the sheriff's office provides school resource police to the district in order to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest.
"We did so and ultimately took charges of furnishing alcohol to minors (5 counts) and contributing to the delinquency of a minor (5 counts)," District Attorney Bert Poston told Fox News.
"During the course of that investigation, information came to light that we turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and asked them to follow up on, which led to the additional charges of statutory rape and child molestation," Poston said.
Terry turned herself in on five counts of buying alcohol for underage customers and five counts of encouraging a minor's delinquency.
Unlike a Teacher
Derichia Lynch, Murray County Schools' communications coordinator, stated that Terry " was placed on administrative leave with pay, upon return from the Thanksgiving break, and prior to her Wednesday night arrest." She said, "Because she is employed, her leave must be paid until a hearing can be held."
DA Conasauga Bert Poston acknowledged that the party probe was handled by his office.
"Sheriff Davenport asked me to take the lead on that so my investigator in Murray County conducted that investigation and took those charges," he said.
"The GBI will not come in to investigate misdemeanor charges under those circumstances, so we agreed to take a look at it after the initial complaint came in."
A representative for the school system told FOX Chattanooga that they were "shocked and saddened" to learn that Terry had been charged with a crime.
"These are extremely serious charges. The safety and well-being of our students are always a top priority for Murray County Schools," the spokesperson said.
