An Oak Ridge High School teacher was arrested on Tuesday after a teenage student victim accused him of having sex with her when she was 15 years old.
According to a report from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, 40-year-old Cameron Burke, who teaches computer tech at the high school, was arrested on Tuesday after authorities interviewed the student victim.
The victim, who was a freshman at the time the first instance occurred, claims that in June 2020, Burke kissed her while they were in a building on campus alone. Sometime a few months later, the victim says that Burke took her into a back office connected to his classroom and had sex with her.
The victim says the sexual encounters continued until May 2021. The victim advised she did not want to have sex with Burke, but felt that she could not tell him no “because he was her teacher and he was forty years old,” according to the report.
In text messages shared with law enforcement, Burke apologized to the victim, claiming he was “sorry if [he] ever did anything” to her.
When law enforcement authorities interviewed Burke, he denied having sex with any student. When asked about whether or not he referred to students as his “girlfriend,” he confessed to doing so in a “joking manner.” Burke indicated that he had a “close relationship with” the victim and “wanted to have sex with her but refrained,” according to the report.
After he was shown the text messages from the victim, Burke confessed to having sex with the victim. He was arrested and transported to the Orange County Jail.
Burke faces charges of sexual battery with a child, and an additional sexual offense for soliciting sexual conduct with a student as an authority. No bond was set for the charges.