Jackson Hedrick, the Irving Middle School teacher who lost his job this spring after allegations surfaced of an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old student, on Wednesday returned to court to admit to first-degree sexual assault.
“I plead guilty,†the 23-year-old told Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret.
In exchange for Hedrick's plea, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Dan Packard said he agreed to dismiss a second felony charge, enticement by electronic device, and two misdemeanors for contributing to the delinquency of two minors.
He said Irving Principal Susette Taylor contacted police on March 16 with concerns about a suspected, inappropriate relationship between Hedrick and a student, which included allegations that Hedrick gave the 14-year-old girl and one of her friends alcohol on March 11 when the three were at the friend’s home.
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In an interview at the Child Advocacy Center, the girl said she and Hedrick texted and had met outside of school a week earlier. In a second interview two days later, Packard said, she said he had sexual contact with her.
Police found texts on her phone from Hedrick that were “indecent, lewd and sexual in nature,†he said.
In an interview with police March 17, Hedrick admitted he had a sexually inappropriate relationship with the girl.
He faces one to 50 years in prison when Maret sentences him in December. In the meantime, he remains free on a $200,000 bond.
Packard said the state will pursue no other charges against Hedrick stemming from the investigation involving the 14-year-old girl or three other minors. None of the other minors' allegations involved sexual contact.
Police have described the relationship between Hedrick and the girl as consensual, but state law forbids anyone 19 or older from having sex with someone younger than 16 and classifies the crime as first-degree sexual assault.
Hedrick graduated in spring 2014 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor's degree in education. He was a student teacher with Lincoln Public Schools starting in January 2014 and began work full time at Irving in August 2014. He was a first-year social studies teacher at Irving and an assistant cross country coach at Southeast.
Hedrick is a 2010 graduate of Southeast High and a former Irving student.