Texas – from www.star-telegram.com – A former Richland High School varsity cheerleading coach accused of having sex with a male student 10 to 15 times at her Keller home told her principal that she had befriended him to help him curtail his marijuana use, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released Thursday.

The 17-year-old boy, who has since graduated from Richland High, was Tiffanie Kay Bedinger’s student during his junior and senior years, the affidavit said.

The student told authorities that Bedinger first texted him in early February, when he had just broken up with his girlfriend, according to the affidavit.

After that, Bedinger is accused of having a sexual relationship with the student from the end of February until April, when his father found out, North Richland Hills police said in the affidavit.

Bedinger, 44, who also taught business education, was arrested Tuesday after North Richland Hills investigators spent weeks interviewing the student’s relatives, teachers and other students.

She was free Thursday after posting $30,000 bail shortly after her arrest. She resigned in April, according to Birdville school district records. She is expected to be charged with an improper relationship between an educator and student, North Richland Hills police said. Neither Bedinger nor her attorney could be reached Thursday.

She was arrested in Watauga, where authorities believe she now lives, but she lived in Keller at the time of the alleged relationship.

According to the affidavit, the boy told authorities that he met Bedinger during his sophomore year before attending her classes.

Their relationship started to grow in his junior and senior years; he told authorities that “she was kind of like my mom.”

Bedinger began texting the boy in February and was aware the relationship was wrong because she always advised him to delete the messages, according to the affidavit.

From February to April, the two met 10 to 15 times and had unprotected sex at her Keller home, according to the affidavit.

She attended all his sporting events, and he went on an overnight fishing trip with her March 5, according to the affidavit.

His father confronted him March 6, but the boy denied having a relationship with Bedinger, the father told authorities.

But in April, the boy admitted the relationship to his father after getting into some trouble. He then told Bedinger that he had told his father about the relationship, according to the affidavit.

The boy’s father later contacted Bedinger, telling her that he would be turning her in soon.

According to the affidavit, Bedinger immediately contacted her principal, saying she may need to resign because she had been texting a male student, but she didn’t say that she had had sex with him. Bedinger told her principal that she had been trying “to get him back to being a good kid” and stop him from using marijuana.

Bedinger later admitted to the principal that she had had a relationship with the boy that led the school official to ask for her resignation, according to the affidavit.