Teacher cut classes to hook

A fourth-grade teacher had a side job as a prostitute, and even skipped class after using a school computer to arrange an afternoon tryst at a motel, authorities said Wednesday.

Amber Carter, 35, left school early on Tuesday – taking half a sick day – and was arrested in a motel parking lot in Bellefontaine, where authorities had set up a sting operation.

An anonymous e-mail was sent to the Logan County Sheriff’s Department on Feb. 4 saying a local woman was posting cash-for-sex ads on the popular Web site Craigslist, Lt. Rob Bibart said.

Detectives found the ad and arranged Tuesday’s meeting with Carter, he said.

“It was done very subtly. We pulled up, I identified myself,” he said. “I put her in an unmarked car and off we went.”

Detectives were uncertain how long Carter had been advertising for sex, Bibart said.

Bellefontaine, a small city of 13,000, is about 50 miles northwest of Columbus.

Carter was placed on administrative leave, said Bellefontaine City Schools Superintendent Larry Anderson. She has worked for the district for 13 years, starting as a kindergarten teacher.

“It’s really a shock,” Anderson said. “She’s never been involved with any disciplinary issues or anything else. She’s done a very good job.”

A substitute teacher filled in for Carter at Western Intermediate School on Wednesday. The school’s principal and guidance counselor met with the students to answer questions about the allegations, Anderson said. The school was to send a letter home to parents about the case.

Carter was charged with misdemeanor prostitution and a felony count of unauthorized use of property, related to the school computer. She was released from Logan County jail Tuesday.

A woman answering a phone listing for Amber Carter in Bellefontaine hung up on a reporter seeking comment Wednesday.