An alleged dirty South Carolina kindergarten teacher accused of molesting a student grinned in court as she was released on bail after dropping a bombshell on the judge.
Nicole Ballew Callaham, 33, has been charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor over an alleged affair with a teen boy beginning when he was just 14.
Callaham turned herself in to sheriff’s deputies in Anderson County, near Greenville, last week.
Callaham’s lawyers revealed the former teacher was eight to nine weeks pregnant.
At a Thursday bond hearing, her attorney asked that the court release her on bond after she revealed that she was pregnant, WDBJ7 reported.
Neither the defense nor the prosecution suggested who the father of the baby might be; Callaham does have a (fully grown) fiancé, who was in the courtroom to support his alleged predator sweetheart, according to the Daily Mail.
She appeared in court virtually via a live feed that showed her sulking in a cinderblock cell.
It was a far cry from social media posts making her out to be a fun and upbeat kindergarten teacher, celebrating birthdays with her colleagues and even belting out an Abba song in one video.
Detectives began investigating Callaham in May and claim the sexual abuse started in 2021 with then-14-year-old Grant Strickland.
It lasted two years, authorities said.
“I’m here to fight and I’m not going to back down,” alleged victim Grant Strickland said.
“The relationship intensified as she reportedly signed the student out of school, transported him to practices and served as a supervisor for after-school activities,” the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office said last week.
“These repeated interactions led to a prolonged pattern of abuse, which was corroborated by search warrants and ongoing cooperation with the victim’s family.”
Strickland came forward after turning 18, “following time spent processing the experience and trauma associated with the abuse,” authorities said.
Addressing the court on Tuesday, Stickland — who is now 18 — said he wants the case to empower other victims to come forward.
“I’m here to fight and I’m not going to back down. I think more awareness needs to be brought to things like this. And just because I’m a man doesn’t mean that it should be shunned away. Because I was a child,” WBDJ7 reported him saying
Callaham is charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
A detective also read a letter in court from Strickland’s mother, who alleged Callaham first met her victim when she was helping direct a school play.
“She saw our son’s innocence and that he was very easily manipulated,” the mother wrote.
Callaham was released after paying a $120,000 cash bond, but the court barred her from going near Strickland or a number of locations he might be.
She had a fraught personal life behind the scenes: She divorced her first husband last May and became embroiled in a custody battle over their young daughter.
Her ex filed for modified custody rights on the same day she turned herself in, according to court records obtained by True Crime Mama.
