AUSTIN (KRON) – A former Texas high school math teacher was arrested and charged Thursday morning with having inappropriate relationships with a couple of her students.
Haeli Noelle Wey, 28, who was reportedly removed from the classroom on Oct. 23, is now facing two counts of having an improper relationship between educator and student. Both are second-degree felonies.
According to an arrest affidavit, authorities launched their investigation after school administrators reported possible inappropriate electronic and social media messages between Wey and a 17-year-old male student.
The court document says the messages came to light when the victim’s friend accessed his Instagram account and found the correspondence with the teacher about meeting up for a hike at the end of September, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
When investigators spoke to the student, he said he met Wey at summer camp and didn’t realize she was a teacher at his school until he started the new school year in August. The victim said he started communication with Wey in mid-September about random things.
The victim told police he kissed Wey while on the hike. According to the affidavit, when the teen was asked if he was expecting to have sex with Wey, he said, “yeah.”
During the initial investigation, a second 17-year-old student came forward and said he had sex with Wey several times over the span of two months but stopped because he found out she went on a hike with the other student, according to the affidavit.
The second victim told police Wey’s family was close to his family and the two had met at ministry program in June of this year. He said their relationship escalated when Wey accompanied his family on a trip.
Eanes ISD Superintendent Tom Leonard released a statement Thursday afternoon, saying the incident is “shocking and upsetting.” Leonard says he trusts that the justice system will reinforce the message that this behavior will not be tolerated. The school district says its counseling staff is ready to provide support to students.
The sheriff’s office investigation is ongoing.
Wey was hired by Westlake High School on Aug. 15, 2013. The district says the teacher’s background checks were cleared when she was hired.
In November, the Texas Education Agency said the number of investigations involving inappropriate relationships between teachers and students was on the rise. The number of agency investigations went from 141 in 2009-2010 to 179 in 2013-2014 and 188 in 2014-2015.KRON4 News affiliate KXAN contributed to this report.