PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A 24-year-old biology teacher and cheer coach is out of a job and facing criminal charges after admitting to a months-long sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student.

Ashley Elizabeth Zehnder, the teacher in question, brought the incident to administrators attention after students began trading nude pictures she sent to the young man she allegedly had a relationship with. At the time she approached administrators, Zehnder claimed students got the photo from an old cell phone, but did not admit to the sexual relationship.


Upon investigation, text messages revealed Zenhder began sleeping with one of her 17-year-old students in May, a relationship that lasted until August.

"[The student] was able to describe her room, her apartment, the layout of it, exactly where it was," assistant district attorney Nick Socias told KHOU.

When confronted, Zehnder came clean and eventually resigned on Oct. 9.

"She admitted to sending the nude photo to the student, knowing in fact that he was a student, and that they had sex ... There's a lot of questions on why she even brought it up to begin with."

"When I heard about it, it was on Twitter, like on a social media so everything kind of like went around," student Marlene Aquilar told Click2Houston.

"Why would a teacher do that? It's like you're supposed to be professional and imagine like going to school that day and having everybody seeing like your body."

Zehnder is charged with having an improper relationship with a student, a felony. She is currently free on $10,000 bond.