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Formal charges were filed Friday against a Gilbert middle school teacher accused of having sexual contact with a teenage girl earlier this year.
Elizabeth Claire Livesay has been accused of eight counts of sexual misconduct with a minor for incidents that happened between June 2008 and August 2008 at the girl's home.
ABC15 learned that Livesay, 26, admitted during a phone call to having sexual contact with a student she was mentoring.
Court documents indicate that Livesay met the 16-year-old at church, according to a news release from the County Attorney's office.
School officials said the teenager did not attend the same school.
Gilbert police arrested Livesay at the Mesa campus after school on Monday.
"My grandson came home and said, 'Guess what happened today,'" said Rebecca Gonzalez. "'They arrested my teacher.'"
Gonzalez said she became very concerned when she learned her grandson watched police escort Livesay, his basic English teacher, from campus in handcuffs.
"She was a nice teacher and all," said Eduardo Lafftoon, a student. "People are going to be shocked and going to be talking about it at school," he added.
Lafftoon said Livesay taught small classes at the school.
A Mesa Public Schools representative, Kathy Bareiss, told ABC15 Livesay teaches in the Special Education department. She is a Specific Learning Disabilities teacher, and she has taught with the school for 1.5 years.
"We're going to follow our due process," said Bareiss. "We take this very seriously."
Bariese said Livesay will not return to campus during an internal, school investigation. She said Livesay's teaching certification and background check were fine when she was hired.
"Teachers are good role models, and we hold them to very high expectations," she said.
Bareiss said Livesay is on administrative leave.
"I'll give anybody the benefit of the doubt," said Gonzalez. "But if she did do it, she needs to pay up because that's not right."
