Former Ben Davis teacher enters guilty plea in child seduction case
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – According to online court records, a former Ben Davis teacher entered a guilty plea Thursday in his child seduction case.
Robert Chin,40,faces seven child seduction charges. He was charged in April of this year after authorities learned of an appropriate relationship he was having with a student.
Chin had been a teacher at Ben Davis High School since 2003. He was also the head golf coach for the boy’s team and the assistant coach for the girl’s team.
Court documents state that he began a sexual relationship between June and August of 2016 with a student that was 17 years old at the time.
Officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department first became aware of the case after reporting to the Clarion Hotel in the 2900 block of Waterfront Parkway on the evening of April 1. Officers were responding to a call of a possible sexual assault at the hotel. When they arrived, they found Chin and the student, now 18, having sex.
The student said she had told her parents that she was going to her job to pick up some dessert to bring home but that she actually went to the hotel to have sex with Chin. She said her father became upset when she found out she was having sex with her teacher.
She then told investigators the relationship started in 2016 when she was still 17. She said they met in three different hotels. She also said that he started asking her for nude photos via SnapChat and possibly text message when she was 17.
Officers spoke with the manager of the Clarion Hotel, who said Chin had checked into a room fourteen times since July 30, 2016. Three of the times would have been when the student was underage. The student told investigators that the pair had sex each time they checked into a hotel.
Another hotel manager, this one at the Baymont Inn on the 3800 block of Eagle View Drive, said Chin checked in eight times since August 19, 2016. Two of those instances were before the student was 18 years old.
Officers served a search warrant on Chin’s Avon home, seizing a laptop and a cell phone.
In an interview, Chin said he and the student are “really good friends” and have a “super relationship.” IMPD said that after being confronted with the hotel check-ins, Chin admitted to having sex with the student. Investigators also said he denied having sex with her when she was underage, then told officers they had sex a month before she turned 18. Court documents state he said “he was sure of this because his wife’s birthday, September 12, was in the middle of the time he had sex with [redacted] and when [redacted] turned eighteen.”
Chin’s sentencing is set for 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 30.