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Madison County Schools employee charged with sex crimes; National Children's Advocacy Center weighs in

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MAKAYLA ANDERTON

Makayla Anderton

Â鶹app uncovering new information about the Madison County Schools employee arrested for sex crimes.

Twenty-six-year-old Makayla Ann Anderton was with statutory rape and sodomy and a school employee engaged in a sex act with a student under 19 and distributing obscene material to a student.

Anderton bonded out of the Madison County Sheriff's Office Sunday night, the same day she was booked.

Anderton’s personnel files from Madison County Schools reveal she was a temporary mini bus attendant. She resigned yesterday afternoon from her position after only working for the school system for three weeks.

Saturday evening, Madison County Sheriff's deputies conducted a traffic stop to find Anderton and a 15-year-old child in the car with her.

Detectives launched an investigation and found Anderton was a Madison County School employee and the 15-year-old was a student in the same system. They learned Anderton and the victim had been engaging in conversations that became sexual over the past two months.

The sheriff's office says both the victim and suspect exchanged numerous photographs, videos, and explicit text messages. Anderton met with the victim several times and engaged in various sex acts.

Pam Clasgens, the Community Awareness and Prevention Director at the National Children's Advocacy Center, says one in ten children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.

And most of the time, it's someone the family and the child already knows.

“It can happen to children of any age and one of the things we want to emphasize is it’s never the child’s fault,†Clasgens said. “It’s always, if it’s an adult abusing a child, it’s always the adult's fault no matter what age the child is, no matter the circumstances.â€

Clasgens hopes this incident will help dispel the myth that sexual abuse typically happens by strangers.

“People who do this work really hard to gain the trust of all the people around them that could prevent them from having access to the child, so people who do this are working really hard to appear to be trustworthy," Clasgens said.

Clasgens says parents should listen and believe their child when they speak up. Having conversations with your children about the dangers that are out there is one of the best ways to prevent situations like this from arising.

Playing “what if†scenarios with your children can help you explain what are good and bad interactions with adults. Identifying safe adults with your children can also help them build trust with the right people.

Click for more information on the resources the National Children's Advocacy Center provides. 

The Madison County Sheriff's Office is actively investigating this incident. Anyone with more information, believes they know a victim, or is a victim of a similar assault should contact the Madison County Sheriff's Office at 256-532-3416.

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Reporter

Paige was born and raised in the Metro Detroit area and graduated with honors from Central Michigan University.

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