A 51-year-old language teacher at Longmont High School was arrested a day after a woman told police she saw him at a Longmont Starbucks involved in what appeared to be an inappropriate relationship with a student younger than 16.
Alex Laird Tinsley is being held without bond in the Boulder County Jail.
The investigation began Tuesday after police received a call from a woman who said she saw Tinsley and a young teenaged girl being “obviously intimate.” said Longmont Police Commander Tim Lewis.
“I don’t want to get into the details, but it was obviously not the way a father or grandfather sits with a young girl,” he said. “The woman (who called) recognized this was inappropriate.”
Patrol officers arrived and talked to Tinsley, who insisted the relationship was as teacher and student.
“We had no evidence at the time, but our officers worked through the night and found probable cause that this was a relationship that had been going on for several months,” he said.
The girl, whose age has not been released, has not yet given a statement to police, he said.
“Right now she’s undergoing a lot of issues because of what’s happened,” he said. “She’s a victim here, and her parents are getting her the help she needs, but at some point we’re going to have to talk to her.”
Tinsley, a Boulder resident, was put on paid suspension from his job teaching Japanese at Longmont High School.
The Boulder Daily Camera reported that Tinsley turned himself into Longmont police this afternoon but had been scheduled to fly to Japan today with a group of teenagers from the Longmont Karate Club, where he was an instructor.
He faces a felony charge of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust with a pattern of abuse.
Public records show Tinsley has no other arrests. He was divorced in Boulder County in 2002.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
