John McCarthy
ARDEN HILLS, Minnesota — A veteran English teacher at Mounds View High School has resigned and was due in Ramsey County District Court Thursday morning to face charges of sexually assaulting a student.
Ramsey County prosecutors allege that Ted Matthew Bennett, 58, began texting with a 16-year-old girl in the spring and that their communications “turned to hands on sexual contact” in October.
According to the criminal complaint filed Wednesday, the girl had told Bennett that she’d been going through some hard times and had nobody else to talk to.
On Friday, the teen’s friend and her boyfriend reported concerns about the relationship to school staff, who in turn informed Principal Rob Reetz.
In an email to parents and staff on Wednesday, Reetz said that Bennett had resigned and that the school stands “with all survivors of sexual assault and abuse, and our school unequivocally condemns any actions that harms or exploits students.”
Prosecutors write in their complaint that the teen’s father gave investigators his daughter’s phone, on which they found “highly specific details” of sexual assaults along with evidence that Bennett gave the girl drugs and alcohol.
Investigators say Bennett last spoke with the teen on Monday and told her “I was fired, lie to them and delete everything.”
In an interview with police on Tuesday, the teen allegedly said that throughout her tenth grade year, Bennett commented on her looks and body and told her she was “hot.”
In the complaint, prosecutors say that there are likely “multiple prior victims of Bennett.”
In his letter to the school community Reetz urges anyone with information about the investigation to contact the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office at 651-266-7331.
A 24-hour statewide sexual violence and domestic violence hotline is available in Minnesota. You can call Minnesota Day One at (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995.
