A charge has been filed against a Franklin Community High School teacher who was arrested earlier this week after an investigation into an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student.
Alex J. Brickens, 28, 1138 Fiesta Drive, Franklin, was charged with child seduction by the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office Friday. Under Indiana law, child seduction is an accusation that a child care worker, such as a teacher, who is in a position of trust over a child had a sexual relationship with a child who is 16 or 17 years old.
Child seduction is a Level 5 felony, which carries with it a sentence of between one and six years in prison, and a fine of not more than $10,000.
Franklin police started investigating the matter on Monday. Students at the high school had reported a possible sexual relationship that had occurred in 2017 between Brickens and a student who was a senior at the time, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Police spoke with the reported victim, who confirmed that she and Brickens had sex approximately 10 times starting in September of 2017, the report said. According to the affidavit, she told police that the relationship started when she had car trouble at the school, and she asked Brickens for help. While she waited for a friend to come help her, she talked to Brickens, and that he asked her to text him when she made it home, the report said.
The two continued texting, and later that week, the student messaged Brickens that she wanted to come to his home, which was the first time they had sex, the report said.
The student said that they had sex twice in 2017, and then again in the spring of 2018, according to the affidavit.
Following the interview with the student, police spoke with Brickens at the Franklin Police Department on Tuesday. Brickens initially denied that he had sex with the student, then said that the two had a sexual relationship but that it didn’t start until the student had graduated from high school, the report said.
As detectives questioned him more, Brickens told them that the student’s account of what had happened was correct, the affidavit said. He was arrested on a charge of child seduction.
