An Ohio public school teacher was charged Wednesday for allegedly paying for sex with a 16-year-old girl.
A Franklin County municipal court record stated that Robert Pea knowingly paid the minor $80 for sex on June 26.
He found her through an online ad and arranged over text to meet at a hotel, the complaint stated. Pea was a social studies teacher and boys bowling and golf coach at Northland High School.
He had worked at the school since 1998.
Pea was arrested at the school Wednesday morning and charged with one count of compelling prostitution, a third-degree felony, according to Ohio attorney general Dave Yost. Pea “contacted a minor through an online advertisement and engaged in sexual activity for hire,” Yost stated.
There were no students present at the school at the time of the arrest, according to Dana Hess, director of the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, Fox 28 reported.
The victim is now safe, living with her mother and attending a private school, according to Fox 28.
Pea was interviewed by the police Monday as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation, according to Steve Irwin, a spokesman for the Ohio attorney general’s office.
Columbus City Schools was not aware of the investigation until the arrest Wednesday morning, according to Jaqueline Bryant, a spokesperson for the school district.
Pea’s pay is currently suspended, although once he is released from incarceration he will be assigned to home with pay and kept out of the classroom until the situation is resolved, she said.
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