Plymouth-Canton teacher aide accused of sex with teens
A 41-year-old Plymouth-Canton Community Schools middle school teacher’s aide was charged Tuesday with allegedly engaging in oral sex with her daughters’ 15-year-old male friends and supplying the boys with alcohol, police said.
Bridget Caplin has been charged with criminal sexual conduct third degree involving a person 13-15 years old, distributing obscene matter to children and using a computer to commit a crime, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
Plymouth police received an anonymous tip at the end of May from an online California-based company called We Tip about a middle school teacher or teacher’s aide having sex with teen boys.
Police Chief Al Cox said the name of the school where the person worked was not provided by the tipster, but police got lucky on their first try by calling around the large school district and discovered the accused employee was a paraprofessional at East Middle School.
The police department began its investigation of Caplin soon after. They combed through the cellphones of the alleged victims and Caplin.
One of the 15-year-old boys attended classes at East Middle School, but was not in one of the classes where Caplin helped teachers. The other teen was a student at West Middle School at the time of the alleged misconduct.
Caplin was put on administrative leave soon after the investigation began, Cox said.
“The school did an excellent in putting her on administrative leave so that she was not at the school,” Cox said. “They made sure everyone was safe.”
Caplin was arrested Oct. 12 in Monroe County where she had been living after leaving her residence in Plymouth. She was arraigned Oct. 19 and is being held in the Wayne County Jail on a $250,000 cash surety bond.
Cox said there are only two alleged victims.
“Is it possible they are more? Sure,” Cox said. “We don’t have any evidence (of more victims) right now.”
Caplin is due back in court for a probable cause conference Friday. She faces a preliminary examination on the charges in 35th District Court on Nov. 4.
bwilliams@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2027