Indiana teacher charged with alleged battery against 11-year-old student

An Indiana school teacher has been charged with allegedly duct-taping a student's mouth and physically assaulting her.

Stephanie Arteaga, a substitute teacher at Anderson Intermediate School in Anderson, Indiana, has been preliminarily charged with battery on one of her students.

Arteaga was fired on August 30 following accusations that she duct-taped an 11-year-old student's mouth shut, pulled her hair, sat on her, and hit her with a ruler, according to the Herald Bulletin.

The student detailed the incident, saying, “She pulled my hair, she hit me with a ruler, she put tape on my mouth, she sat on me.” The Anderson Police Department was called to the school at 12:56 p.m., and the principal provided officers with a handwritten account of the events.

During questioning, Arteaga admitted to pulling the student’s hair and hitting her with a ruler but claimed these actions were playful. The principal also noted the smell of alcohol on Arteaga’s breath, and she later confessed to drinking during the day.

Arteaga was terminated and escorted off the school grounds. She has been charged with battery on an individual under 14, a Level 6 felony, which carries a potential sentence of up to 2.5 years in prison if convicted.