Washington High substitute accused of sexual relationship with student

CEDAR RAPIDS - A substitute teacher with the Cedar Rapids school district was arrested Friday on a sexual exploitation charge.

Mary Elizabeth Haglin, 24, of Cedar Rapids, faces a charge of sexual exploitation by a counselor, therapist or school employee, a criminal complaint shows. She was arrested on a warrant by the Linn County Sheriff's Office, court records show.

She remained Friday afternoon in the Linn County Jail on $6,500 bail. She will have an initial court appearance at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

According to the complaint, Haglin had a sexual relationship with a student between Jan. 1 and May 17 while she worked as a substitute teacher at Washington High School.

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said Friday the investigation started about seven weeks ago. He considered other charges but found this charge was appropriate for the conduct. He said that the victim wasn't a student of hers at Washington, but was a student at the same school.

Maybanks wouldn't disclose the victim's age, which also wasn't in the complaint. Even if the victim was 18 or older, it wouldn't change the charge as long as the victim was a student.

Haglin, if convicted, faces up to two years in jail and being listed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.

Haglin started working as a substitute for the district in fall 2015, school district spokeswoman Marcia Hughes said in an email.

The district investigated the relationship when officials became aware of it, and although 'both individuals denied the existence of an inappropriate relationship,” Hughes said, the district removed Haglin from her position at Washington High and alerted the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners. The district is cooperating with police investigators, she added.

But after informing Haglin she could no longer work as a substitute in the district, the district placed Haglin in a substitute teaching position for nine days by mistake at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, Hughes said.

Haglin worked at both Harrison and Madison elementary schools, Hughes said, because of 'a miscommunication with the substitute placement system.”

The Grant Wood Area Education Agency runs a database of substitute teachers for the Cedar Rapids and a number of other school districts.

Renee Nelson, Grant Wood AEA spokeswoman, confirmed Haglin was once in the database, and that Haglin was eventually removed when the AEA learned of the police investigation.

'We did not receive communication from the Cedar Rapids Community School District of any allegations nor of the concerns submitted to the Board of Education,” Nelson said in an email.

Haglin's initial license hadn't been revoked as of Friday, according to the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners website. Her license doesn't expire until Feb. 28, 2017.

Haglin's license could be revoked before being convicted because she is being accused of sexual conduct with a student, according to the Iowa Administrative code.

Before the investigation, Haglin also taught at Taylor Elementary, Grant Wood Elementary, Taft Middle, Franklin Middle, Roosevelt Middle and Kennedy High, according to the AEA's database. She spent most of October and November teaching at Prairie Point Middle in the College Community district, and taught at College Community's Prairie Heights Elementary and Prairie Creek Intermediate, as well as Oak Ridge Middle in Linn-Mar.