Volunteer teacher accused of sex relationship with student

is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student. he’s 31-year old gary vau jr. he’s charged with criminal sexual penetration, criminal sexual contact and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. he was arrested this week and has since posted bond. ABC-7’s josie ortegon is live from our new mexico mobile newsroom. josie? investigators say the alleged incidents happened here on the las cruces catholic schools campus, which includes an elementary, and middle school and st. mary’s catholic high school–where the girl attends. police say vau and the 17-year old student had a relationship that began rather innocently but over the course of a year, became sexual… investigators say vau was the girl’s volunteer art teacher at the school. in april of last year, the two exchanged numbers and by june, police say the messages became sexually explicit. once the semester started, the girl became his teacher’s assistant and helped him in his classroom– and that’s where she says they had sex. the criminal complaint states the girl told a teacher about it weeks later. the girl says the relationship was consensual. vau admits to having a sexual relationship, but does not admit to having sex. vau was removed as a volunteer immediately after the allegations surfaced: cg: dan trujillo, las cruces police :01-:16 “this doesn’t happen very often obviously in nm it’s illegal for any school official to have a relationship like that with any student. “We’re upset, concerne have offered help to the victim, and this is a total surprise so we are very upset but we are cooperative with police and the district attorney’s office.” volunteer teachers like vau attend a safe environment course and undergo a background check just like paid faculty. the diocese says vau’s record was clean when chosen. it’s unclear if vau was involved with any other students at the school, police are asking anyone to come forward, if so. ok josie, thank you for the latest.