Teacher Arrested for Sex With Student
School Administrators Suspected Inappropriate Relationship
Detectives with the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department arrested a 29-year-old teacher Tuesday who was allegedly having sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old New Cuyama High School student. Kelli Jo Camp, who is also a manager at Valarie House, a group home in Santa Maria, doesn’t have teaching credentials, but was working at the school temporarily in her quest to earn them, according to authorities.
In addition to working at New Cuyama High, Camp had also been teaching at Righetti High School in Santa Maria earlier this school year. She also was a cheerleading instructor at Lakeview Junior High in Orcutt and at Central Coast Shock Wave cheerleading center in Santa Maria.
School administrators became suspicious of an inappropriate relationship over the past several months after frequent visits to her classroom by male students, finding photos of the victim in Camp’s desk, and greeting cards from the victim “expressing his love for her,” according to Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Erik Raney. After investigating, and recovering emails between Camp and the teenager “alluding to a consensual sexual relationship between them,” according to Raney, detectives obtained a warrant and arrested Camp at Valarie House.
She was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. The investigation of Camp continues, and authorities are asking anyone who has information to call Det. Ruby Wolff at (805) 934-6170.
