BELLAIRE -- A local high school teacher who also serves on Mancelona's school board is in jail after being accused of having sex with a student.
Antrim County Prosecutor Charles Koop wouldn't identify the suspect, who teaches at Forest Area High School near Fife Lake.
But Mancelona Public Schools Board member Bill Avery confirmed the suspect is fellow board member Frank E. Moser.
Moser was arrested Friday morning and police obtained a warrant that alleges he committed third-degree criminal sexual conduct by having sex with one of Forest Area High School's female students, 17, at his Mancelona home in November.
"I'm just kind of saddened and stunned," Avery said. "It's horrible."
Avery said he expects Moser will resign from the Mancelona school board, and said he's overwhelmed with grief for Moser's family and the student.
"I'm heartbroken over the whole thing ... My thoughts have been with this little girl and Frank's wife, the innocent people involved in all of this," he said.
Michigan State Police investigated, but Koop wouldn't specify how investigators learned of the alleged incident. Moser was charged under a state law that makes it a criminal act for a teacher to have sexual contact with students, Koop said.
Koop said he didn't know if Moser taught the girl in any classes, and he wouldn't detail how she ended up at Moser's house.
"This has turned her life upside down," Koop said.
Moser worked at Forest Area Schools since 2001. The district placed him on indefinite paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the charges.
He's jailed on a $100,000 bond and is expected to be arraigned Thursday, Koop said.
Mancelona Public Schools Superintendent Jeff DiRosa and Forest Area Schools Superintendent John Smith couldn't be reached for comment late Friday.
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