Substitute teacher — whom police caught naked in her car with student and who admitted to having sex with boy — avoids jail

A former Nebraska substitute teacher managed to avoid being sentenced to jail despite police reportedly catching the married woman in a state of undress with a naked underage student in her vehicle.

Erin Ward, 45, was arrested last April. She was charged with one count of felony sexual abuse by a school employee.

She allegedly told officers that the relationship had been going on for a few months and that she and the boy had sex only in her vehicle.

In November, Ward pleaded no contest to an amended charge of felony child abuse.

During her sentencing hearing Wednesday, Ward was sentenced to three years of probation.

As Blaze News reported last year, deputies with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office responded to a call around 3 a.m. April 13, 2024, regarding a suspicious vehicle parked on a dead-end road in the neighborhood of Elkhorn — a western suburb of Omaha.

Responding officers said they found two undressed people in the back seat of a gray 2015 Honda Pilot.

After police confronted the pair, one of the individuals reportedly jumped into the driver's seat, sped off, and allegedly crashed into a yard about two blocks away from police. The driver, a teenage male, reportedly fled on foot.

Deputies reportedly tracked down the teen within an hour of the incident. The driver later was identified as a 17-year-old student at Burke High School in Omaha.

According to the police report, the female passenger in the vehicle was naked in the back seat and trying to put on her clothes as officers approached the crashed car.

Inside the vehicle, police found Ward — a substitute teacher at Burke High School.

The teen and Ward were transported to a local hospital to treat minor injuries from the car crash, police said.

Police said they discovered Ward's ID for Omaha Public Schools and she informed them that she was a substitute teacher.

Investigators claim Ward admitted to having sexual relations with the teen on multiple occasions. She allegedly told officers that the relationship had been going on for a few months and that she and the boy had sex only in her vehicle.

Authorities said the crashed vehicle belonged to Ward and her husband.

Omaha Public Schools spokesperson Bridget Blevins told USA Today that Ward served as a substitute teacher in the district starting in September 2023 but "was not considered a full-time or part-time employee."

Burke High School principal Darren Rasmussen previously said in a statement regarding the substitute teacher's arrest: "We are writing to share that law enforcement has arrested a metro-area substitute teacher for inappropriate conduct with a minor. The individual worked at Burke High several days during the 2023-24 school year. They will not be returning to our school or any others in our district."

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