A Southern California high school psychologist was charged with a felony count of statutory rape of a student, authorities announced Tuesday.
Kristen Lynne Boyle, a 35-year-old school psychologist in the Fullerton Unified School District, was charged with statutory rape after authorities said she had sexual relations with a student in a La Habra High School classroom, the Orange County District Attorney and the La Habra Police Department said.
Authorities said the rape took place April of 2018, and after a long investigation into the alleged "inappropriate sexual relationship," she was arrested September 20.
She has since been placed on leave.
"Mental health professionals wield a tremendous amount of influence over their patients," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. "This betrayal of trust is even more egregious because she used her position to gain her victim’s trust and then exploited the therapist/patient relationship to prey on one of the very students she was entrusted with helping."
If convicted as charged, Boyle faces three years as a maximum sentence.
It wasn't immediately clear if Boyle had an attorney.
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Anyone with information on the case is asked to call La Habra police at (562) 383-4300, or use Tip411, though authorities don't believe there are any additional victims.
