BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio — It was a delicate conversation, to be sure.

The principal tried yesterday to tell a class of fourth-graders why their teacher was arrested just after lunch Tuesday and hauled to jail.

She couldn’t tell them that Amber Carter, a 13-year employee of the Bellefontaine City School District, had been arrested in an apparent sex sting at the local Super 8 Motel just after noon Tuesday.

Carter took a half-day of sick leave that day, said Superintendent Larry Anderson. Not long after she left the school, deputy sheriffs arrested her at 12:05 p.m. in the hotel parking lot.

They were following up on a tip they received Feb. 4 about “suspicious Internet activity,” Chief Deputy Randy Dodds said. He wouldn’t say any more about the case.

Carter was charged with prostitution, a third-degree misdemeanor, and unauthorized use of property, a felony. Anderson said the felony charge stems from the possibility that she used her school computer to set up the meetings.

Anderson placed Carter on paid administrative leave Tuesday night. The school district is cooperating in the investigation, he said.

Carter was processed at the Logan County jail and then released. No one answered the phone at her Bellefontaine home yesterday.

A substitute assumed her class at Western Intermediate School, and the guidance counselor and the principal met with students yesterday morning.

“It’s just a bad situation,” Anderson said. “It’s not our place to tell them too much, but we figured the students might have heard rumors and would have some questions.”

A letter went home to parents last night.

Anderson said Carter is a popular teacher who has never had any disciplinary problems.

Carter is due in Bellefontaine Municipal Court this morning.