A Savannah high school English teacher accused of having sexual contact with an 18-year-old student while her own young child watched from the back seat has been released on a $15,000 bond under strict monitoring.
Chatham County Recorder’s Court Chief Judge Joe Huffman granted the bond on Friday for 35-year-old Paulina Walden, despite strong objections from prosecutors and the student’s mother. Walden faces charges of criminal improper sexual conduct by an employer or agent in the first degree and child molestation. Her bond had initially been denied after authorities argued she posed a safety risk to the community and the alleged victim.
The charges stem from an investigation that began on April 24, 2026, when the Board of Education Police Department alerted Savannah Police to an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a student.
Walden has worked for the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System since September 2023, teaching English at Jenkins High School. School officials moved Walden to a non-school site with zero student contact once the allegations surfaced, though court testimony revealed she remains technically employed by the district.
During the hearing, Detective Jason Zimmerman of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) testified that the incident took place on Nov. 21, 2025, inside a pickup truck. According to the prosecution, Walden’s four-year-old child was sitting in the back seat during the encounter. The child molestation charge was filed because the child allegedly witnessed the sexual conduct.
Assistant District Attorney presented several pieces of evidence, including photos of the parking lot where Walden stated the incident happened, graphic poems recovered from Walden’s cell phone, and potential DNA evidence currently being tested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab. Prosecutors noted that one specific poem was written the day after the encounter and texted to the student in December. The student involved has since graduated from the high school.
According to WTOC, Defense attorney Turner contested the state’s version of events, arguing that the student requested a ride home and actually initiated the physical contact. Turner stated that Walden was “not a willing participant” in the encounter. He emphasized that Walden has no prior criminal history, has worked as a local educator for years, and complied with the district’s reassignment. Turner himself proposed the strict bond conditions to the judge.
Judge Huffman ultimately allowed the release but attached heavy restrictions. Walden must wear an electronic ankle monitor, remain under house arrest at an alternate address, and is barred from returning to her home at 1800 East 38th Street. She is completely prohibited from contacting the now-graduated student, including via social media, and cannot have contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Furthermore, Walden is blocked from seeing her own child, who is now five, until she finishes a mandatory mental health evaluation, completes a parenting class, and receives formal approval from a Division of Family and Children Services case plan.
The state fought the bond, pointing out that Walden’s husband had not cooperated with the DFCS plan. However, Walden’s husband attended the hearing to support her release. The case has now been waived to superior court, where it will be presented to a grand jury.
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