A former school resource officer at East Ridge Middle School is facing indictment on two counts of aggravated statutory rape.
But the alleged victim, a 16-year-old student at East Ridge High School, defended former officer Jeff Baker at a preliminary court hearing today, admitting she enticed him to have sex with her and that she considered him a friend.
“He was just trying to help me,” the girl testified, describing how the two had become friends when she had asked him to help her dig up dirt about her mom’s boyfriend, whom she didn’t like.
The Hamilton County grand jury is expected to take a closer look at the case in the coming weeks after Hamilton County General Sessions Judge David Bales early this afternoon bound the charges over.
See tomorrow’s Times Free Press for complete details.