Cops: Pa. teacher accused of pupil sex jailed for contacting her

PLUM, Pa. (AP) — The attorney for a suspended western Pennsylvania high school teacher charged with having sex with an 18-year-old student says a new charge accusing the teacher of intimidating the alleged victim is “overkill.”

Jason Cooper, 38, of Monroeville, was charged again Monday by Plum Borough police with witness intimidation.

Defense attorney Michael DeRiso has argued the student sex charge is baseless because the girl was 18 when Cooper, a teacher at Plum High School, had sex with her. But police have said the relationship began when the girl was 17 and that the law dictates a student cannot legally consent to have sex with a teacher, regardless of age.

Police say the girl’s father reported that Cooper called the student on Friday about “her pending testimony.”

DeRiso didn’t deny that, but says Cooper wasn’t trying to intimidate her.