Ex-Bethel HS teacher sentenced for forging parent’s name on documents

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MIAMI COUNTY — A former Bethel High School teacher previously accused of signing the name of a student’s parent on school documents was sentenced this week.

Andrea Bullmaster, 42, was sentenced to five years of probation and a suspended 180-day jail sentence Wednesday, according to a Miami County Common Pleas Court official. She was also ordered to surrender her teaching license to the state.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Former Bethel HS teacher accused of forging parent’s name on documents to have student in class more

Bullmaster was charged earlier this year with forgery and tampering with evidence. She entered a plea agreement in October and pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of attempted forgery, according to court records. As part of her plea agreement, one count of forgery and two counts of tampering with evidence were dismissed.

Bullmaster, who had been employed with the district for seven months, allegedly exchanged thousands of messages with a student and even forged his mother’s signature on documents.

As News Center 7 previously reported, an incident report filed with the Miami County Sheriff’s Office in January stated that a woman wanted to make a telephone harassment complaint. She told deputies that a teacher from her son’s school was communicating inappropriately with her son, who was a freshman at the time.

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The mother told deputies she became aware of the situation when her son came home with gifts from Bullmaster. She later found messages between her son and his teacher. The report noted that while the messages were not criminal in nature, it was apparent that there was an emotional and flirtatious facet to their communication.

Data was then collected from both Bullmaster’s and the student’s phones and thousands of messages were found between the two through text and social media. Messages were sent on a daily basis before, during, and after school hours, according to the report.

At one point, Bullmaster asked the student if his mom would be “cool” with her signing his mom’s name on a form to get his schedule changed to where he would be spending multiple class periods with her.

Bullmaster submitted her resignation to Bethel Local Schools’ Board of Education in March.