CLAYTON — Sexually-charged cell phone photo and text message evidence resulted in the arrest and dismissal of a First State Military Academy instructor last week, police and school officials said in separate statements.

On Thursday, Troy T. McQueen, 40, of Sequoia Drive in Smyrna, was charged with three second-degree unlawful sexual contact felonies regarding an alleged relationship with a female cadet at the northern Kent County School at 355 W. Duck Creek Road.

School Resource Officer Michael Hibbert said Monday he began investigating immediately after receiving allegations from school officials about possibly inappropriate conduct between the Marine instructor and cadet.

School officials were alerted of possible misconduct after photos were seen on the cadet’s cell phone, according to an arrest affidavit,

In a news release last week, FSMA Commandant Patrick R. Gallucci said that an unidentified Marine instructor “was removed from the building and FSMA has dismissed the instructor.”

The commandant declined further comment due to the ongoing criminal investigation.

On Monday, Officer Hibbert said the investigation was ongoing.

Mr. McQueen was taken into custody without incident and released on $9,000 unsecured bond after being presented to Justice of the Peace Court 2 in Rehoboth Beach via video phone at the Smyrna Police Department. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Feb. 23.

According to police in court documents, investigation found that Mr. McQueen had allegedly sent a lewd photo of himself and sexually-suggestive text messages to the cadet.

Also, according to police, inappropriate contact allegedly occurred three times in a basement supply room area.

Police were told by the cadet that the alleged relationship first began with an exchange of phone numbers followed by text messages that supposedly escalated from friendly to sexual in nature, according to documents.

Authorities said alleged text messages from Mr. McQueen supposedly acknowledged the physical contact and that “we have to stop that basement (expletive.)”

In Delaware Code, second-degree unlawful sexual contact is a class F felony bringing up to three years incarceration and defined as “when the person intentionally has sexual contact with another person who is less than 18 years of age or causes the victim to have sexual contact with the person or a third person.

The Delaware State Police assisted in the investigation, Clayton Police said in court papers.