Oklahoma Teacher, Former Coach Charged for Having Sex With Female High School Student

NORMAN, Okla. – Cleveland County prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a suspended science teacher and former girls basketball coach at Norman North High School, accusing her of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student.

Vicky Lynn Lewallen is charged with two counts of forcible sodomy and two counts of rape by instrumentation, Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said.

Lewallen, who was suspended with pay from her job on May 4, surrendered to authorities Wednesday morning and was given a personal recognizance bond. Mashburn said his office had requested a $20,000 bond.

Lewallen's attorney, Steve Stice, said Wednesday he has not had a chance to thoroughly review the charges and did not want to comment on them.

A court hearing is set for July 17 in the case.

Mashburn said that one of the rape counts stems from an investigation into an alleged incident that occurred on school grounds and was reported to authorities by school personnel. He said that investigation led to the other three allegations, which he said stem from acts that occurred at Lewallen's house during class hours.

Mashburn said that the age of consent in Oklahoma is 16, but that the student-teacher relationship removes that consent and makes it a crime.

"When you send your child to school, you want to protect them from being coerced into a 'consensual relationship,"' Mashburn said.

Lewallen has been employed by Norman Public Schools since 1996, when she replaced Sherri Coale as the girls basketball coach at Norman High School. Lewallen's team went 28-0 and won the Class 6A state title in 1997.

The following year, Lewallen became the first girls basketball coach at Norman North.

She previously coached at Skiatook and has been an assistant coach at Ponca City, Sand Springs and Coweta.

In 2004, she left coaching but continued as a teacher at Norman North.