Newly surfaced bodycam video shows the moment a married high school teacher in Florida walked police officers through her classroom while telling them in graphic detail where and how she allegedly engaged in illicit sexual acts with a teenage student.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement released in April that 37-year-old Heather Mashburn-Smith had been arrested following an investigation by detectives.
‘What this woman has done is not just unlawful, it is damaging to the students and staff around her.’
Mashburn-Smith, a teacher at Port Charlotte High School, was charged with unlawful sexual activity with certain minors, according to jail records.
The sheriff’s office noted that Mashburn-Smith was initially hit with a second-degree felony. However, police said the charges were upgraded to a first-degree felony due to her position as a teacher and because Mashburn-Smith provided a “full, post-Miranda confession to detectives.”
Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell stated in April, “What this woman has done is not just unlawful, it is damaging to the students and staff around her.”
Prummell said Mashburn-Smith “took advantage of that vulnerability and preyed on one of the people she was entrusted to protect.”
Superintendent of Charlotte County Public Schools Mark Vianello said in April, “The actions of this individual are a direct violation of the duty every educator owes to students and families. We will not tolerate anything that compromises student safety.”
Vianello said Mashburn-Smith has been placed on administrative leave.
On Thursday, Law&Crime published police bodycam footage from her April 29 arrest, showing Mashburn-Smith walk detectives through her classroom, where she appears to admit to having sexual relations with an underage student.
A deputy from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is seen on video asking Mashburn-Smith, “Can you just show us where in the room the sexual activity took place?”
Mashburn-Smith is then seen walking officers to a pair of desks inside the classroom.
“As far as the intercourse goes, this is the desk that we, I leaned back on,” Mashburn-Smith tells the officers in the video.
The police bodycam video appears to show Mashburn-Smith telling the officers that she also had sex with the teen on a student chair.
The teacher is seen telling the deputies that she would unlock the classroom door to let the teen inside, but she would sometimes use a book to wedge a side door open so the teenager could enter after football practice.
Video appears to show Mashburn-Smith telling police, “It’s not like I let him in, and we went right to it or anything. We would hug and talk. … Like I said, it was not premeditated sex.”
The police bodycam footage ends with Mashburn-Smith being arrested and taken to jail.
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The alleged illicit relationship reportedly began with the pair flirting on the Snapchat messaging app, where the teen allegedly told Mashburn-Smith that she was “pretty.”
WBBH-TV reported on April 30, “Washburn-Smith reportedly invited the victim to her classroom so they could talk about the messages, a conversation that later became flirtatious, the victim said in the affidavit.”
According to the affidavit, Washburn-Smith warned the alleged victim that he could not tell anyone about their relationship because she could get into trouble.
The student told investigators that he and Mashburn-Smith had sex on two occasions in her classroom, court documents said.
“Afterwards, the victim told deputies that Mashburn-Smith told him she was not in a good marriage and that she wanted to leave her husband for him once he turned 18,” WBBH reported.
Mashburn-Smith told officers that the student made her feel special and desired, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said the teen blocked Mashburn-Smith from communicating with him on social media, but she continued to contact him on Snapchat.
When questioned by deputies about the accusations, Mashburn-Smith told them that she had “made a mistake” and knew the student was “just a teenager,” the affidavit said.
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