Authorities in a northern California county arrested a 42-year-old woman and charged her with having illicit sexual relationships with three teenage members of a high school football team.
Mary Frances Fletcher, also known as Debbie Fletcher, was arrested earlier this week and charged with unlawful sexual intercourse after police received accusations that she had developed sexual relationships with the three players from the Mount Shasta High School football team, the New York Post reported.
Investigators say that Fletcher met the boys while working as an assistant with a school photographer.
“It was kind of a chance encounter, and she evidently developed a relationship with the boys at a later time,” Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey told the paper.
The suspect was also charged with trying to dissuade witnesses from saying anything to detectives investigating the case.
“We have small-knit communities here in Siskiyou County and we have good schools and pretty good kids, so it’s pretty unusual for students to be exploited like this,” Lopey added. “This is a relatively rare offense that occurs. It’s very alarming, it’s something that’s very shocking to the senses and it certainly disturbs the entire community.”
The accused has made no public statement on the charges.
Fletcher posted a $10,000 bail and was released pending a March 22 arraignment.
Police asked anyone with more information to contact the department’s Major Crimes Unit at (530) 841-2900.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.