A Tartan High School special education teacher admitted to police that she began a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student about a month before he graduated last year, according to a criminal complaint.

Ann Margaret Bacon, 24, of Hastings, was charged by warrant Monday in Ramsey County District Court with one count of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct alleging a prohibited occupational relationship. Bacon had not been taken into custody as of Monday night. She could not be reached for comment on the charge.

Bacon resigned from her job at the Oakdale school on Thursday, which was the same day police interviewed her.

Bacon initially told police she had sex with the student in July after he graduated, but changed her story after being confronted with photos of the two of them taken May 8 at a Vadnais Heights hotel, the complaint says. Meanwhile, Bacon denied allegations that she bought alcohol for minors.

Bacon was hired as a Tartan special education teacher in August 2022. Prior to that, she worked as a paraprofessional during the 2021-2022 school year, Ty Thompson, assistant superintendent of secondary schools for District 622, said Monday.

Tartan Principal Bethany DeCent notified families and staff of Bacon’s alleged misconduct and her resignation through email Monday, Thompson said.

“Please be assured that the trust and safety of our students remain our utmost priority,” DeCent says in the email. “We are cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation and will continue to do so throughout the process.”

Hotel photos, video

Tartan administration and a school resource police officer received a report Feb. 6 that Bacon had sex with her 18-year-old male student, identified in the criminal complaint as Victim 1. She also purchased alcohol for minors, the reporting party said.

Police spoke with Witness A, who said that she and her friend reported the alleged misconduct to the school in July “because they did not feel the situation was appropriate,” the complaint says. She said a school administrator reached out to her friend and asked for evidence supporting the allegations. She said they did not follow-up with administrators at that time because they did not have evidence.

Victim 1’s former girlfriend, identified as Witness B, told police that he had broken off their two-year relationship on June 6, a day before his high school graduation. She said he had been “acting secretively” and hanging out with Bacon, who bought alcohol for them and other minors.

Witness B told police that she and Victim 1 got back together in August. She said it was then that she found sexually explicit messages and photos of Bacon and Victim 1 on his phone. They included pictures of them from May 8 in a hotel room.

Witness B also said she saw a May 2023 video on Victim 1’s phone showing Bacon and him and several of his friends all drinking alcohol in a hotel room.

Witness B said she confronted Victim 1 and he admitted to her that he had sex with his former teacher beginning in May, according to the complaint.

Police spoke to Victim 1 on Thursday. He acknowledged being in Bacon’s class during his senior year. He said the first time they had sex was in July 2023 in her car near his house. He denied having sex with her before his graduation. He said they are currently dating exclusively, and that he stays at her apartment.

A July report, but ‘no facts’

School records show that a tipster reported the allegations on July 9. A school district official contacted the phone number listed in the tip, but there was no reply.

Two days later, the school’s principal contacted Bacon by phone. She denied having “inappropriate interactions with students,” the complaint says, which adds that “no further action was taken at that time and no mandatory report to police was made by school administrators.”

Asked by the Pioneer Press about the allegation of a report not being made to police, Thompson said in an email Monday there “were no facts to support a reasonable belief of neglect or abuse” at the time.

School records show that Witness A made another report to the school about Bacon on Feb. 5 “out of concern that (Bacon) was still teaching at the high school and, as a special education teacher, had access to vulnerable students,” the complaint says.

Witness A said she received a call from the school principal the next day. She made the allegations again, and said she also was going to notify the school resource officer.

Hotel records

Police obtained records from the hotel, which is in the 3500 block of Vadnais Center Drive, just south of County Road E and east of Interstate 35E. Records showed Bacon rented rooms there on May, 8, June 4, June 11 and July 4. All stays were for one night.

Police spoke with Bacon on Thursday. After several denials, she admitted to the sexual relationship and said it began when he was one of her students, the complaint says. She said they stopped having sex in July 2023, and that they now are just friends.

She acknowledged receiving a $40 Venmo payment for “liqq” on June 21, but “claimed she didn’t remember who it was from or what it was for,” the complaint says.

Electronics belonging to Bacon and Victim 1 were seized by investigators, who are examining them for forensic evidence.

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