A Winter Springs High School teacher is facing multiple felony charges for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with one of his teenage students over the course of several months.
Lucas Earl Cridlebaugh was arrested on Wednesday by members of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office on multiple counts of of lewd and lascivious battery of a victim between 12 and 16.
According to an SCSO arrest report, on Tuesday, October 10, investigators were informed of allegations of an inappropriate relationship between a teacher at Winter Springs High School and a student.
During an interview with the student, authorities discovered that Cridlebaugh allegedly began an “intimate relationship” with the student in May. The student told authorities that Cridlebaugh digitally penetrated her vagina on at least two occasions, and caressed her breasts “in a sexual manner” on at least three occasions, according to the arrest report.
The student told detectives that all but one of the incidents occurred while she was in Cridlebaugh’s classroom.
Cridlebaugh, who turns 26 years old on October 26, was listed as a social studies teacher on the school’s website as of Friday.
During a search of the student’s cellphone, multiple, sexually explicit text messages from Cridlebaugh were found.
On Wednesday, detectives made contact with Cridlebaugh at his home, where he admitted to digitally penetrating the student’s vagina, touching her breasts in a sexual manner, and sending her sexually explicit messages.
Cridlebaugh is currently being held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility on $75,000 bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned on December 5, 2023, according to Seminole County court records.