Sand Springs substitute teacher accused of sex with 14-year-old student
BY AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writer
Monday, August 13, 2012
SAND SPRINGS — A former science teacher who was recently rehired as a substitute was arrested Sunday on rape and molestation complaints, Sand Springs police said.
Steven Marcus Beard, 37, is accused of second-degree rape, lewd molestation of a minor and lewd proposals to a minor, jail records show.
Assistant Police Chief Mike Carter said police were alerted to Beard’s behavior when a 14-year-old girl who had met Carter while he was teaching at Clyde Boyd Middle School told her mother she feared that Beard had gotten her pregnant.
The girl showed her mother text messages from Beard, which Carter said contained sexual content and graphic detail. Her mother contacted the police, and after reading the messages, they arrested Beard at his residence in the 4900 block of Barr Drive, Carter said.
He said it became apparent the suspect and the victim had had sexual contact more than 10 times in recent weeks.
“There’s no excuse that anybody can have for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old,” Carter said.
Sand Springs Public Schools Superintendent Lloyd Snow said Beard worked for the district as a full-time science teacher between 1999 and 2006, when he left to pursue a career as a personal trainer. He applied to work as a substitute in 2011.
Snow and the Sand Springs Police Department said they knew of no prior incidents of inappropriate contact between Beard and his students.
Beard’s arrest comes less than six months after a language arts teacher for the district, Erin Kathleen Queen, was arrested and charged with the second-degree rape of a 17-year-old student.
“We’re all very, very startled by another incident,” Snow said. “We take protecting our children as one of the first and foremost responsibilities that we have.”
Associated Images:
Steven Marcus Beard
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