Vancouver band teacher accused of sex acts with student

by Teresa Blackman
KGW.com
August 2, 2010

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A high school band teacher in Vancouver was arrested Sunday for allegedly having sexual encounters with a 17-year-old girl who had been his student since her freshman year.

Tyler Benedict, 30, was charged in court Monday with two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Benedict was working as a band teacher at Heritage High School in Vancouver when the sexual acts occurred, according to  Sgt. Kevin Allais with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Police were alerted by the teen’s parents who said they became suspicious after noticing inappropriate messages on her cell phone and computer that turned out to be from Benedict, Allais said.

The teen later told police that her relationship with Benedict was romantic and sexual. The detectives also said that when they interviewed Benedict, he admitted that he had a sexual relationship with his student.

Court documents obtained by KGW said that Benedict had performed oral sex on the teen on two occasions.

Jerry Piland, Executive Director of Human Resources for the Evergreen School District, released the following statement via email on Monday: “The district is waiting for the police report. The allegations are very serious and the district will take extremely strong actions if this has occurred. Those strong actions will be that he would no longer have a job.”

Benedict has worked at Heritage for the past three years.

Bail at the Clark County Jail was set at $10,000. The court documents also said that Benedict was placed on suicide watch while in custody.

Benedict is married and lives in Ridgefield, Wash. with his wife.