NEW PALESTINE — A teaching assistant at New Palestine High School has been arrested and has lost his job after a student reported he had made inappropriate advances.
Justin McCaw, 42, was charged Wednesday with three felony counts after a female student told a school resource officer McCaw had asked her to have sex.
According to court documents, the inappropriate behavior began on Friday, Feb. 8, when McCaw approached the student in a hallway and told her he wanted to speak with her about “us.” He approached her again after school that same day as she was sitting in her vehicle talking on her phone with a family member before leaving the school parking lot, the report said.
The student said McCaw drove his pickup next to her vehicle and told her his family wasn’t at home and asked her if she wanted to come to his house and have sex, the report stated.
She told her parents about the encounters as soon as she got home and convinced them to let her handle the situation with school authorities the following Monday. Her mother later told police her daughter “fell apart at the door” when she got home.
When she talked to a police officer on Monday, Feb. 11, the student said McCaw told her he had driven past her home the day before he approached her in the hallway. The student also reported McCaw would sit next to her in class and brush his leg against hers. McCaw’s behavior made her feel uncomfortable, the report said.
When confronted later that day, McCaw told Assistant Principal Adam Barton and police that he did not have any relationships with students outside of school. He denied touching the student or asking her to have sex.
After the interview, Barton told McCaw he was fired. Police told him to stay away from all Southern Hancock schools property. Both school officials and police reported the incident to the Department of Child Services.
After looking at school video from inside the building and in the parking lot, police said that evidence supported the girl’s account. Evidence on the student’s phone also was consistent with information reported to police, the report said. A search of McCaw’s phone showed he had searched for the girl’s address on Google Maps.
McCaw had been a full-time instructional aide at the high school since April 2017. Southern Hancock spokesman Wes Anderson said in an email to the Daily Reporter that all employees go through an extensive background check, which includes examinations of state, federal and Department of Child Services records in addition to checks with references and previous employers.
McCaw, who lives in the 3000 block of South County Road 700W, is in the Hancock County Jail. He faces a Level 5 felony charge of child seduction and Level 6 felony charges of stalking and official misconduct. The most serious charge calls for a maximum of 6 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
