A former librarian at Beebe Intermediate School was arrested Thursday for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old boy who was a student at the high school.
Rebecca Sue Harvey, 36, of 5422 S. Hwy. 367, Beebe, was arrested following an investigation by Capt. Eddie Cullum into allegations that she had sexual activity with a minor. Beebe police did not release the age or sex of the minor. That information came from other sources.
Several individuals were interviewed, and Cullum submitted an affidavit to the prosecuting attorney in Searcy, Police Chief Wayne Ballew said in a press release Thursday. “On Aug. 19, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Phyllis M. Hendrix filed a felony information through the White County Circuit Court and subsequently a bench warrant was issued for the arrest of Harvey,” Ballew said.
The warrant charges Harvey with sexual assault in the first degree, a class A felony. The warrant says that on or about January 2009 through May 2009, Harvey “did unlawfully and feloniously engage in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with another person, not her spouse, who is less than eighteen (18) years of age.’”
School Superintendent Belinda Shook said Friday that Harvey resigned this month, saying she intended to go back to school.
Shook said school employees must go through state-required ethics training every year as a safeguard against improper contact with students. But she also said that even though Harvey was a school employee, the offense she is accused of had nothing to do with her job. Harvey was taken to the White County Detention Center in Searcy, but is out on a $20,000 bond.