SAN DIEGO — A Mount Carmel High School teacher who allegedly engaged in a years-long sexual relationship with an underage female student pleaded not guilty Friday to 17 felony counts.
Stacy Michelle Walker, 40, was arrested Wednesday for what a prosecutor said was "a highly inappropriate relationship" that began when the victim was 15 years old.
Deputy District Attorney Vanessa Gerard said the interactions between Walker and the victim continued until 2020, when the victim was 18.
Police say the crimes began with sexual conversations that led to exchanges of explicit text messages, photographs and videos, and then sex acts.
The victim reported the alleged crimes to San Diego police last July, SDPD Lt. Dan Sayasane said.
Walker faces up to 13 years in state prison if she is convicted of all counts, which include charges of sexual penetration by a foreign object, oral copulation of a person under 18, and contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense. A criminal complaint states the crimes allegedly occurred in 2018 and 2019.
Walker was initially held on $405,000 bail, but bail was reset Friday to $150,000 following a stipulation between the prosecution and Walker's defense attorneys.
If she is released, Walker is ordered not to contact the victim, to stay away from minors unless they are immediate family members, and to agree to a "Fourth Waiver," which allows law enforcement to search her person or property without a warrant.
Walker, a teacher in the Poway Unified School District, was taken into custody by detectives and booked into Las Colinas County Jail on Wednesday.
Walker allegedly started the relationship by engaging the 15-year-old victim in sexual conversations. According to police, Walker and the victim began exchanging sexually explicit photographs, videos and text messages.
San Diego Police said Walker met the victim multiple times and engaged in sex acts.
“The sexual assaults continued until after the victim turned 18-years-old,” San Diego Police said.
According to police, the investigation began after the victim reported the sexual assault to the San Diego Police Department in July 2023.
CBS 8 obtained a letter sent by Principal Yael Bozzay to Mt. Carmel High School families that said in part,
Dear Sundevil Families,
I am writing to inform you of a serious matter involving one of our staff members who has been on leave and not teaching at Mt. Carmel this school year. We were notified by law enforcement that a Mt. Carmel teacher was arrested yesterday due to allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a former student.
Please know that we are taking this situation very seriously, and we have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation as well as launching our own internal HR investigation. Again, this individual has been on leave and has not been teaching at Mt. Carmel this school year.
Walker is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday at San Diego Superior Court in Downtown San Diego.
San Diego Police Department detectives are searching for additional victims or witnesses.
Anyone with information regarding this incident or believes they know or are the victim of a similar assault should call the SDPD Sex Crimes Unit at (619) 531-2210 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
