An Estancia woman is facing six felony charges including criminal sexual penetration of a minor and child solicitation by electronic communication device while she was working as a substitute teacher at Estancia High School. Estancia police say some of the alleged crimes happened on Estancia Municipal Schools property.
Police say Michaela Ford of Estancia, 30, had criminal sexual contact with a student who attends Estancia High. According to a criminal complaint, Estancia police searched Ford and the student’s phones and found explicit sexual messages and photos sent between the two, including details of alleged sexual encounters they had.
According to the complaint, when Estancia police asked Ford if she had “participated in physical sexual contact” with the student, she said, “It could have happened,” but the complaint said “she was not sure because her family suffers from blacking out and suppressing memories.”
Estancia police said in addition to sending explicit messages, Ford and the student referred to each other as “husband and wife” and said “I love you” in their conversations.
According to a criminal complaint, when Estancia police were called to Estancia High School Nov. 6 to investigate the alleged misconduct, administrators said an anonymous student told them they saw a student and teacher kissing in a corridor at the adjacent Estancia Middle School. Estancia police said surveillance video “shows the same details” the student reported to administrators. The complaint said when Ford met with the Estancia High School principal to discuss the alleged incident, she put her teacher identification cards on the desk and said “she knew she was in trouble.”
According to the complaint, surveillance footage also shows Ford hugging the student at the middle school after Ford dropped off her daughter at Estancia Elementary School on Nov. 11. The complaint said when administrators told Ford she could pick up and drop off her child at the elementary school but she was “not welcomed” at the middle or high schools, Ford said, “Hugging a student is not illegal.”
Ford was arrested at home Nov. 12, according to police. She was put on pretrial supervision with Torrance County and ordered not to contact the student until the case is resolved.