Suburban Teacher Charged With Sexually Assaulting Student at Plainfield High

A southwest suburban teacher has been charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old female student at the school where he taught, police said.

Brian Smith, 32, faces one count of criminal sexual assault, according to a statement from Plainfield police.

The sexual encounter took place in February in a storage room adjacent to Smith’s classroom at the Plainfield High School Central Campus, police said.

But Smith and the teenager had been communication through various social media applications for about a month prior to the incident, police said. Some of the messages were sexual in nature and included both text messages and photographs.

About a week after the sexual encounter, officials were notified by an acquaintance of the student and the girl was subsequently interviewed by investigators, police said. She gave a detailed account of the encounter.

On Thursday, Smith confessed to police and was taken into custody, police said. Smith, of the 3700 block of Saratoga Drive in Joliet, was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility, but bond information was not immediately available.

Smith is listed as a “special services / chemistry” teacher on the school’s website.

Smith, of the 3700 block of Saratoga Drive in Joliet, was ordered held at the Will County Adult Detention Facility on a $600,000 bond, according to the Will County state’s attorney’s office. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

A representative from Plainfield High School could not immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

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