The Nebraska substitute teacher caught naked in a car with a teenage student is a mom married to a Harvard-educated, high-ranking federal government employee, according to records and social media accounts.
Erin Ward, 45, allegedly confessed to having sex with the 17-year-old boy — a student at Burke High School where she worked — in the back of the car and was charged with felony sexual abuse by a school employee.
By sleeping with the teen, Ward is also accused of cheating on her husband, a director at the US Department of Defense — with whom she shares three kids, according to social media posts shared by the Gretna couple.
Doug Ward has spent nearly two decades with the US Strategic Command, one of the unified combatant commands within the Defense Department, headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, according to his LinkedIn page.
The command detects and deters attacks against the US and its allies.
Doug Ward began his career as deputy branch chief in 2005 and was promoted to deputy director of the commander’s action group in February, his profile states.
Doug Ward also has a long educational history with degrees from the University of Illinois, Bellevue University, and Harvard Extension School.
He is currently completing his doctorate in defense and strategic studies at Missouri State University, according to LinkedIn.
Their relationship was first reported by the Daily Mail.
Erin Ward was arrested early Saturday when Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies found her allegedly fooling around with the teenage boy in the car she shared with her husband.
Officers had responded to a call for a suspicious car parked on a dead-end street at around 3 a.m.
When they peeked into the vehicle, they saw the naked substitute teacher with the partially clothed teen in the backseat, the sheriff’s office said.
The panicked teen hurried to the driver’s seat and sped off in the vehicle but crashed two blocks later — at which point he got out and fled on foot.
Erin Ward remained in the car, where she got dressed and then allegedly confessed to sleeping with the boy.
Police found her ID from Omaha Public Schools on her and she said she substituted at various schools in the area — including the teen’s.
The high schooler was later found hiding in a yard in only his T-shirt and underwear, according to the sheriff’s office.
Because the teen was above the age of consent — 16 — in Nebraska, the teacher dodged statutory rape charges but was still hit with the felony count of sexual abuse by a school employee.