Former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher charged with sex crimes with student
A 33-year-old former high school English teacher faces charges of indecent liberties and sexual activity with a student, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools confirmed to the Charlotte Observer Tuesday.
Maria Heyliger was an English teacher at Rocky River High School beginning Jan. 24, 2022, according to CMS. She resigned two weeks ago.
Mecklenburg County Jail records show Heyliger was charged with two counts each of indecent liberties with a student and sexual activity with a student. She was jailed Friday afternoon and released Saturday.
Between May and June of this year, Heyliger met up with an 18-year-old student at a Charlotte hotel, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department incident report. The report was filed with CMS Police, the agency that investigated, on the same day Heyliger resigned.
A CMS spokesperson on Tuesday said the district does not comment on teachers or students due to privacy issues.
District records show Heyliger was hired as a substitute teacher in 2019. She was promoted in August 2019 to teach language arts at Ridge Road Middle School. She taught at Mint Hill Middle in 2020 before resigning in August 2021. She was rehired at Rocky River High in 2022 and had a contract through the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
Heyliger’s personnel record shows no prior disciplinary issues. As of August 2022, she was making an annual salary of $46,982.
According to state law, it is a felony for a teacher, school administrator, student teacher, school safety officer, or coach, at any age, to engage in a sexual act with a victim who is a student, “at any time during or after the time the defendant and victim were present together in the same school, but before the victim ceases to be a student.”
Consent is not a defense, according to the law.
This story was originally published August 8, 2023 at 3:26 PM.
