By PAUL THOMPSON
A teacher has been charged with trying to have sex with an underage teen by sending him Facebook messages. Angela Gay Masingo was arrested after police viewed the multiple messages she had sent. It is thought the boy's parents intercepted some of the messages from the married mum and tipped off police. The teen is not a pupil at the high school where 39-year-old Masingo has taught since 1995. Masingo was charged with solicitation of aggravated statutory rape and solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor after being arrested at her home. She has since been suspended from Greenback High School where her father is a teacher and a former administrator.
In her last posting on the school's website before her arrest, she wrote: 'Wow!! What's up with this weather? I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and staying warm.' Loudon County School Director Jason Vance said Masingo has never been accused of any serious misconduct. 'It's important to provide our employees with due process; however, its equally important and probably more -- to safeguard our children and make sure our children are safe,' said Vance.
One parent who remembers Masingo from when her daughter went to school at Greenback was surprised to hear the news. Rhonda Guiney told a local TV station: 'I actually knew the teacher. It does make it shocking cause I thought she was a good person.'
Masingo's family refused to comment with a member saying: 'There are always two sides [to every story].' The Blount County Sheriff's Office H.E.A.T. (Hi-tech Evidence and Technology) Unit and the Loudon County Sheriff's Office, as part of Internet Crimes Against Children Tennessee Task Force (ICAC), were involved in a a joint investigation on Masingo.
Masingo is due in court on March 15. Teacher Angela Masingo was at Greenback School in Tennessee.
