Missouri math teacher accused of using students as lookouts to have sex with teen
A Missouri math teacher awaits extradition from Texas after she was tracked down on a warrant for allegedly having sex with one of her 16-year-old students and using other teenagers as lookouts.
Hailey Nichelle Clifton-Carmack, 26, "was suspected of fleeing the state of Missouri" to avoid her arrest for sexual contact with a student, fourth-degree child molestation, second-degree statutory rape and first-degree child endangerment, police in Garden Ridge, Texas, wrote in a social media post announcing her arrest last Friday.
The victim's father, Mark Creighton, was charged with child endangerment and jailed on $50,000 bond last Thursday for allegedly knowing about and permitting the relationship between the son and his teacher.
Allegedly, he told a witness that he "may as well let it happen" because his son and the teacher were "going to do it behind [his] back anyway," according to his arrest affidavit.
A fellow student approached school administration about Clifton-Carmack's illicit relationship on Dec. 7, a probable cause statement obtained by Fox News Digital shows.
The witness told police that Clifton-Carmack was regularly "too friendly" with her students, sometimes dressing in "tight or low cut shirts" and "tight leggings."
The teacher openly discussed her sex life in class, the student told police, and had previously been admonished by school administration for getting "too close" to students. Fox News Digital was unable to reach the district for comment at press time.
The student witness told Pulaski County investigators that the victim, a friend of theirs, showed them photographs of scratch marks on his back. Clifton-Carmack allegedly left the marks "after the confidential victim had sex with her in the confidential witness's driveway."
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Allegedly, the victim had bragged to the witness that he was the reason Clifton-Carmack's divorce was pushed through, according to the document.
Clifton-Carmack's husband filed for divorce on Aug. 23, 2023, Pulaksi County court documents show. The pair have two children.
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Clifton-Carmack allegedly denied any sexual relationships with students when she was approached by detectives the next day, handing over her phone. Police were unable to access its contents until they obtained a warrant on Dec. 22. Text messages between the teacher and student supported the claims made by the witness.
Clifton-Carmack left Missouri to visit family in Texas around Dec. 23.
"Individuals living at the residence that Hailey was previously living at" told police that she had "moved to Texas to live with her family" and that they were "not sure if she was going to return" on Jan. 3.
That day, Pulaski County detectives spoke to a second witness, who told them that the student and teacher had "used students as look-outs while they had sex during school" and that the teacher had visited the male student at the home he shared with his father.
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The second witness said she had confronted the boy's father, Creighton, about the relationship.
"He responded by telling her 'they are going to do it behind my back, so I may as well let it happen,'" read the affidavit. "He also advised... that he would lie for his son if he had to."
Kent Stoumbaugh, the superintendent of the school district, told ABC 17 that Clifton-Carmack had not been on school grounds since the allegations were brought forward. She had worked at the school for about a year and a half, he said, and it was her first teaching job.
"The alleged misconduct is inexcusable and does not meet the professional standards for district employees," Stoumbaugh said. "The district took immediate action once we were aware of this situation."