Iowa school volleyball coach, 22, is charged with having sex with boy, 17, after car accident

The former head volleyball coach of a rural Iowa school district has been charged with having sex with, and sending explicit photos to, a 17 year-old student she met after he backed into her car.

Brycelyn Haughey, 22, faces 20 years in prison on four counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee after she was accused of being in a months-long relationship with a 17-year-old student in 2020.

Haughey attended Kirkwood Community College and Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids and was completing her studies at Buena Vista University when she was hired at the GMG district in July 2020, according to the Iowa Times Republican.

She met a 17-year-old male student when he backed up into her car in the school parking lot in September of that year, according to Detective Killian’s affidavit.

They exchanged numbers because the student was supposed to fix her car.

‘[The student] stated that Brycelyn asked how old [he] was and he stated 17,’ the affidavit said. ‘Brycelyn then asked if [the student] was a senior and [he] said “No, I’m a junior.” [The student] stated that Brycelyn then made a comment of “close enough.'”  

He started getting flirty texts from Haughey and he ‘just went with it cause he thought she was joking around,’ according to the affidavit.

She met a 17-year-old student after he backed into her. They exchanged numbers

The student went to her home on September 25, 2020, when they began drinking with a girl who was already there and who was younger than the student.

That was the first time they engaged in a sexual act, the document states, and they continued to meet to drink and have sex before the relationship ended in December of that year.   

During the course of their tryst, the student said he received various ‘seductive’ photos of Haughey, including at least one in which she was naked.

Another underage student told Detective Killian that he saw a nude photo of Haughey, the Des Moines Register reports. 

The age of consent in Iowa is 16, but people in positions of authority who have sex with youngsters aged 16-18 in their care can still be charged with sex crimes. 

An investigation into Haughey began in October.

She left her coaching job at Green Mountain Garwin School District on September 23 and took a preschool and special education paraprofessional job at the nearby Tama County School District, which she resigned from December 15.

In an affidavit filed last week, Tama County sheriff’s Detective Trevor Killian said the investigation began after he was contacted by GMG Superintendent Kym Stein, who began her job this July – after Haughey had stopped seeing the student.

Haughey was hired as the head volleyball coach and paraeducator for the rural Green Mountain Garwin School District in Iowa last year. Above, GMG High School

‘Brycelyn then asked if [the student] was a senior and [he] said “No, I’m a junior.” [The student] stated that Brycelyn then made a comment of “close enough,'” according to an affidavit

Haughey was also a paraeducator at the district.

Stein said the school district’s previous administration overlooked the situation ‘and she felt as a mandatory reporter, this was pertinent to the investigation,’ according to the Des Moines Register.

The Iowa Department of Human Services defines mandatory reporters as ‘professionals who have frequent contact with children and dependent adults, mandatory reporters are trained to identify the signs that a child or and dependent adult may have suffered abuse or neglect.’

Superintendent Stein told Sun-Courier newspaper in Reinbeck that the GMG district is aware of the charges against Haughey.

‘The district will continue to follow its policies and procedures, including cooperating with law enforcement. The safety of students is our top priority,’ she said. 

Haughey then invited the student to her home in September 2020, where they met for drinks and sex in a relationship that lasted until December 

No trial date has been set for Haughey, who faces a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $10,245 for each of the four counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee. 

She was also charged with one count of dissemination and exhibition of obscene materials to minors.

Speaking to a reporter after she was hired last year, Haughey said: ‘I was not expecting to come into high school at all, I was actually expecting to take a job in Cedar Rapids and then Bradley messaged me about this.

‘I’ve been coaching for Rapid Spikers in Cedar Rapids and that’s what I just kept on planning to do until I got into a (high) school. I did not thing I was going to be able to get into school ball for a while, at least until I graduated, so when she offered me this job I was like “wow, I really want to do this.”‘