UPDATE: Employee at Springs elementary school accused of sexual assault on a child
Colorado Springs Police say a worker in District 49 has been arrested and is facing charges for sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust.
Police say they received a Safe2Tell tip about an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a 17-year-old student on May 21, 2015.
Police say detectives with the Special Victims Section began investigating and developed probable cause to arrest Christopher Markham, 30. He faces a charge of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. Markham was taken into custody last week.
Markham works in the library at Stetson Elementary, according to Colorado Springs Police. They say he worked as an English teacher at Vista Ridge High School until early December 2014.
An arrest affidavit obtained by KRDO NewsChannel 13 on May 29, 2015 says that Markham and the alleged victim exchanged 1,180 text messages between May 5 and May 22 of this year.
The contents of many of the text messages are too graphic to report. Those messages indicate that the pair was involved in a sexual relationship.
One exchange between the alleged victim and Markham indicates that they may have had sex with a third party after drugging that person.
The affidavit says Markham wrote: “Is it weird when you said that my first thought went to ‘well, by that logic no, we already had a threesome with ______?” The alleged victim responded “lol whatever, it doesn’t count cause ______ didn’t know… we drugged ______ haha.”
The affidavit goes on to say that during a police interview, Markham admitted to having a sexual relationship with the alleged victim. It says that when Markham found out police were asking questions, he tried to break off the relationship until the alleged victim turns 18 in August.
“We are surprised and disappointed to hear about this arrest,” said Matt Meister, D-49 communications director. “We cannot discuss details of the investigation, and we must respect the need for due process,” Meister said.
“The victim came to a close friend of my son’s and said that it was true today. And said she had the proof,” said D49 parent Angela West.
She admits she didn’t believe the accusations at first and is concerned as her other son starts high school next year.
“It’s sad,” she said. “I just feel bad for all of the parties involved. And it’s scary.”
D-49 says that Markham was on administrative leave at the time of his arrest.
