Ex-Teacher Allegedly Had Sex With High School Student, Is Sheriff Deputy’s Daughter-In-Law

A former Alabama teacher who was accused of having sex with a student turned herself in Friday. Incidentally, she is the daughter-in-law of Stacy Bates, the chief deputy of the Madison County sheriff’s office, which investigated the alleged crime.

Lyndsey Sherrod Bates, 22, who was a special education teacher at Madison High School in Madison County, was charged with a count of engaging in a sex act with a student younger than 19, three counts of distributing obscene material to a student and one count of having sexual contact with a student. She surrendered herself to the authorities at around 4:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. EDT) and her bail was set at $32,000.

“The Sheriff’s Office started an investigation as soon as the allegations were brought to our attention, and Chief Bates was never involved in that investigation,” Madison County Sheriff Kevin Turner told AL.com in a statement.

Lt. Donny Shaw, a sheriff’s office spokesman also clarified that Lyndsey’s relationship to the chief deputy “in no way has affected the investigative process or urgency leading to [Friday's] arrest, nor to the future criminal justice proceedings. Because the victim[s] in these charges are juveniles no specific details of the investigation are being released at this time.”

Lyndsey worked at the high school during the 2018-2019 school year. She resigned as soon as the allegations against her surfaced. Apart from being employed as a special education teacher, she also coached junior varsity and varsity volleyball teams at the school.

In a statement, Madison County Superintendent Matt Massey said: “The individual in question resigned and is no longer employed by our system. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement. Our system fully condemns such actions and we are also offering counseling for our students. All other questions should be directed toward the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.”

According to the accused’s presently-deleted Facebook page, Lyndsey is from Athens, Alabama. She graduated from Athens Bible School in 2015 and from Auburn University in 2018, with a major in collaborative special education. She married Drew Bates, who also works in law enforcement, May 10, 2018, Heavy reported.

Last week, a former English teacher at Montgomery High School, in New Jersey, admitted to sending explicit messages and nude photos to a student. Michelina Aichele, 30, was arrested in October after the school administration and the police discovered she had sent sexual photos and messages through text, email and social media to a 16-year-old high school junior, between February and April 2018.

In another instance, Jason J. Sybert, 41, who taught math at Bowsher High School, was accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student at least twice in a classroom, between April 1 and May 30, 2018.