Crime & Safety
Harford County Classroom Helper Charged With Sex Abuse
Amanda Miller is an inclusion helper at North Harford High School in Pylesville.
OUTSIDE BALTIMORE, MD -- UPDATE: (11:30 a.m.)—A classroom helper who works with disabled students at a local high school was charged Monday with sex abuse after allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old boy.
Amanda K. Miller, 35, of the 4500 block of Flintville Road in Whiteford, is charged with sex abuse of a minor, third-degree sex offense and two counts of fourth-degree sex offense, according to a news release from the Harford County Sheriff's Office.
Miller was working as an inclusion helper at North Harford High School, a position that is part of the school system's special education team and serving students with disabilities in the Harford County Public School system, the school system's website states.
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The 15-year-old boy told detectives with the Harford County Child Advocacy Center, a unit that specializes in investigating mistreatment of children, that he and Miller had sex, the release states. He went on to say that he and Miller have been communicating outside of school since December, she occasionally took him home from school and had bought him cigarettes, according to police.
The boy does not have special needs and the two met when he was helping in the same classroom as Miller, according to Edward Hopkins, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
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Miller was taken into custody at North Harford High School Monday. She was released from the Harford County Detention Center that same day after posting $50,000 bail, according to police.
Miller started as an inclusion helper with the school system on Jan. 30, 2012, according to Teri Kranefeld, manager of communications with the school system. Miller has been placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of the investigation, Kranefeld wrote in an email to Patch.
"As this is an open police investigation and a personnel matter, we are prohibited from releasing any information with respect to this case," Kranefeld wrote.
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