ORLANDO -- An Orange County teacher was locked up Monday, accused of sending inappropriate text messages to a student.
Detectives said James Stafford, 25, a seventh-grade teacher at Corner Lake Middle School, intercepted a note being passed in class, and got the number of a 14-year-old female student, then sent her dozens of explicit texts late February.
"I can't, obviously, use the word, but wanted to have sex with her. 'You ever done it with a teacher before?' 'You ever done it with an older person before?'" said Sgt. Richard Mankewich, with the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "She didn't know who it was originally, so she called the number, and when the person's voice mail came up, she realized it was her teacher."
The student reported what happened to the principal.
Investigators said if convicted on the charges, Stafford would face 15 years behind bars.
Stafford was relieved from his job with pay, pending the outcome of the investigation.
The case was the second in just weeks involving a Central Florida school worker and explicit text messages.
In February, Marion County bus driver Joyce Sheldon was taken into custody for allegedly sending explicit text messages to at least two North Marion High School students. See related story.
Sheldon, who had been with the district since 1989, denied sending the messages, saying she loaned her phone to another student.
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