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Angela Christine Coffey
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Teacher arrested in sex case
By GEORGE CHIDI / gchidi@ajc.com
and LAURA DIAMOND / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/18/06
A 33-year-old Gwinnett County high school teacher has been charged
with having inappropriate sexual contact with a 17-year-old student.
Angela Christine Coffey of Lilburn, a teacher at Meadowcreek High
School in Norcross, was arrested by Gwinnett police on Friday,
spokesman Cpl. Darren Moloney said. She bonded out of jail Saturday,
about five hours after her arrest, according to jail records.
Angela Christine Coffey of Lilburn has been accused of having
inappropriate sexual contact with one of her students at Meadowcreek
High School.
Coffey, who resigned Monday, taught English to speakers of other
languages, school district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said.
"It's been hectic, to say the least," Coffey said in a brief phone
interview on Tuesday. She deferred further comment to her lawyer, Ash
Joshi of Atlanta.
An arrest warrant accuses Coffey of having sex with a student in her
class, Joshi said.
Coffey had been teaching at Meadowcreek High since August 2004, Roach
said. She also taught social studies at Sweetwater Middle School from
August 2001 through May 2003, Roach said.
Coffey is unmarried and has no children. Most of her family lives in
Florida, Joshi said.
Police would have charged her with rape or other charges if there was
evidence that the sexual contact was forced, Moloney said. But force
is not relevant to the charge because she had some authority over the
student, he said.
Georgia law prohibits sexual contact by a "person [who] has
supervisory or disciplinary authority over another person," which
applies to educators and students.
Sexual contact occurred over six months, from March to August, Moloney
said.
Police withhold the names of minor victims as a matter of policy. The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution does not report the names of sex crime
victims.
Coffey was arrested the same day an investigation started, not long
after police received information about the alleged inappropriate
sexual contact, Moloney said. Investigators do not believe she had
similar sexual contact with other students, he added.
School district officials were unaware of any previous problems with
Coffey, Roach said. School officials notified the Georgia Professional
Standards Commission about Coffey, she added.
The district will submit a report to the state agency, which oversees
the certification, recruitment and professional discipline of
educators, Roach said.
The charge against Coffey adds to a list of accusations over the last
few years of inappropriate student-teacher sexual behavior.
Police arrested a North Gwinnett High School language arts teacher in
February 2004 on charges he sexually assaulted three female students.
James Ed Winn, who had worked at North Gwinnett since 1979, resigned
amid the allegations of inappropriate physical contact with female
students.
Coffey is preparing for a media hurricane to descend into her life,
her attorney said. Joshi said would prefer a low-key case, "but I
don't think I'm going to have a choice."
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