A Creekview High School teacher has been arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student who attends the school, authorities say.
According to a press release from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, they were informed Tuesday by the Cherokee County School District of allegations of misconduct by 31-year-old Adam Blake Bearden, a special education teacher at Creekview since 2010. On Tuesday evening, Sheriff's deputies searched Bearden's Ball Ground home.
Sheriff's deputies believe the relationship lasted for three months and took place off-campus.
The school district said in a press release that after they conducted their own investigation of the initial claims against Bearden, which began Monday, they immediately contacted the Sheriff's Office.
The release said that Bearden had been "reassigned to a non-school workplace" before the start of classes Wednesday morning.
Bearden turned himself in Wednesday afternoon and is currently being held without bond at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center. He is being charged with four counts of sexual assault.
According to Bearden's personnel file with Cherokee County Schools, before coming to Creekview Bearden had been a biology teacher at Georgia College and State University from 2003-04. He earned his master's degree in biology from that institution in July, 2004. He earned dual bachelor's degrees from Emory University in 2002 for biology and environmental studies.
From 2002-07, Bearden owned his own mechanic shop, Bearden Motor Company. In his personnel file, he listed "career change" as the reason that he left this line of work.