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A recently retired DeKalb High School coach and elementary teacher is accused of seducing, kissing and inappropriately touching a student.
Steven D. Harp, 56, was arrested Thursday on a child seduction charge. According to a probable cause affidavit, Harp touched and engaged in a romantic and emotional relationship with a 17-year-old girl between May and January.
This is the third time a DeKalb High School girls team coach has been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a female student.
Scott R. Coffing, 35, was ordered to serve one year of a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to child seduction in 2007. He had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl.
The former DeKalb High School social studies teacher was arrested again in March 2008, accused of having an online relationship with a different 16-year-old student.
Last year, Kristopher Sennett was sentenced to two years in prison and a year on probation for two counts of child seduction. He admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student while he was assistant principal at Wayne High School.
Police began investigating Harp, who was an elementary physical education teacher, in January when they received a tip he was having a relationship with a student.
When police interviewed his victim, she told detectives she and Harp kissed on a daily basis either in Harp’s office or on the field where he coached. On one occasion, he touched her inappropriately, court documents said.
Detectives also found e-mails that detailed an ongoing romantic and emotional relationship between Harp and the student, the affidavit said. In the e-mails, Harp wrote that he was in love with the girl and that he wanted to die if she was not in his life, the court documents said.
Harp used his school e-mail account to send the messages, said state police Detective Mark Heffelfinger, who investigated the case.
Harp has declined to speak with investigators, Heffelfinger added.
School board President Jay R. Kern said Harp retired from DeKalb County Central United School District in January. Kern, who said he first learned of the allegation after Harp was charged, declined to comment on the case. Superintendent Kenneth Fowble did not return phone calls Friday.
Child seduction, according to statute, occurs when an adult authority figure has sexual contact with a teen between 16 and 18 years old.
