An Easton Area High School substitute teacher was sent to jail on Tuesday morning after a police officer allegedly found her having sex with a student earlier this month at Easton Cemetery.

Kelly Aldinger, 49, who now lives with her parents in the 600 block of Williams Street in Pen Argyl, is charged with institutional sexual assault. She previously lived with her husband in the 2000 block of Maywood Street in Palmer Township, where she served as council president at St. Paul's III Lutheran Church as recently as the fall.

If found guilty, she faces up to 7 years in jail and $15,000 in fines.

Police say they found Aldinger at 1:06 p.m. May 6 having sex with a 17-year-old Easton High junior in a Chevrolet Equinox at the cemetery off Seventh Street. Both she and the teenager told police they had been having sex since the fall of 2015 when he was 16, according to court papers read by District Judge Daniel Corpora at Aldinger's Tuesday morning arraignment.

Police continue to investigate the previous sexual incidents, police Lt. Matthew Gerould said. The age of consent is 16 in Pennsylvania when it comes to statutory rape, so that charge wouldn't apply, but 18 for corruption of a minor. Aldinger, however, doesn't face a corruption charge.

The institutional sexual assault charge stems from her teaching at the school where the teen was a student.

The 17-year-old met Aldinger while he was in seventh or eighth grade at Easton Area Middle School and she was a substitute teacher there, court papers say.

Aldinger, who has at least one child, is no longer working, she said in court. She was employed by Source 4 Teachers, which placed her in substitute's jobs, police said. She's had no previous arrests and no recent drug use, she told the judge.

Her attorney, Josh Fulmer, asked Corpora to issue unsecured bail due to her clean record, her "full cooperation" and her limited threat as a flight risk. Fulmer said she wasn't working for the rest of the school year due to the charge against her.

Corpora left the court for a time and city police brought Aldinger into a hallway to move her handcuffs from in front of her to the rear. She returned to the court and expressed concern her photo would be taken if she left in police custody. Aldinger, who was dressed in a blue skirt and a tan long-sleeved shirt, asked if there were a back door.

When the judge came back, he set bail at $50,000, with a 10 percent option if approved by Pre-Trial Services. That set off another discussion among Fulmer, Aldinger and two people sitting just behind her who appeared to be her parents. The pair later declined to comment.

They could either put up $50,000 immediately, or allow Aldinger to be processed and then come up with $5,000, Fulmer told them. It was decided that Aldinger would be taken to Northampton County Prison.

If released, Aldinger can't have contact with the victim or other minors, Corpora said.

Aldinger didn't comment as she was walked to a police vehicle.

Fulmer said after the court session on South Side Easton that he had no more information on Aldinger's statements about having sex with the boy than what was in the court papers. He said a deal wouldn't be discussed until Aldinger's preliminary hearing, which is tentatively scheduled 9 a.m. May 31 in Downtown District Judge Antonia Grifo's court.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.