A teacher’s assistant is accused of raping a disabled student

An Ohio teacher’s aide has been accused of raping a teenage student with disabilities in his home, multiple news reports said, citing authorities and the student’s family.

Christine Coble, 45, was booked into the Sandusky County Jail on Jan. 7 rape charges, online inmate records show. She is being held on $100,000 bail. It’s unclear if she entered a plea or hired an attorney to speak on her behalf.

Coble allegedly raped the 15-year-old student as he walked home from school on a snowy day on Jan. 6, authorities said. WTVG. The mother of the alleged victim told the publication that her child has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old child.

The child’s mother also claimed that she caught Coble red-handed, WTOL 11 said from the courtroom where Coble was arraigned this week.

“The job (of associations) is to protect society, including the most vulnerable sections of our society, I believe this 15-year-old victim, whose (disability) is among the most vulnerable,” prosecutor Joshua Clarke told the court. by WTOL 11.

Coble, who worked as a paraprofessional in the Woodmore Local School District, has since been placed on unpaid administrative leave, a school representative confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE.

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District Superintendent Dr. Mary Schaeffer said the district could not comment further on the investigation, but that its “primary concern is always the safety and well-being of students.”

Kyle E. Wright of Ruck & Wright Law, an attorney for the alleged victim’s family, tells PEOPLE that he is “confident that the law enforcement agencies and prosecutors involved will do justice in this criminal case; however, it is our job as advocates for the victim’s family to investigate this from all angles and find the truth.”

“Unfortunately, we live in a world where evil exists, and that evil comes in many forms,” ​​Wright adds. “Anyone who is a parent understands this and lives with this concern every day when we send our children to school. But when that evil comes in the form of an adult that students and parents TRUST, it creates a whole other level of trauma.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, text “FORCE” to the emergency line at 741-741 to reach a certified crisis counselor.