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MURRAY — A first year teacher at Cottonwood High School has been arrested and accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old student.
Corbin Vance Robinson, 38, of Sandy, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Tuesday for investigation of forcible sexual abuse.
On Dec. 6, police say Robinson had a 15-year-old student sit on his lap. The girl unzipped Robinson's pants and touched his exposed genitalia, and Robinson touched the girl under her clothing, a Salt Lake County Jail report states.
Investigators believe a similar incident occurred at least one other time, according to the report.
The girl reported the incident on Friday to school administrators, and Robinson, who taught social studies, was immediately removed from the classroom, said Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley. Following an investigation over the weekend by the Granite police, Robinson was arrested Tuesday night.
Robinson was a student teacher at Cottonwood High School last year and began teaching full time this year. Horsley said he believes this was Robinson's first teaching job.
On his LinkedIn page, Robinson said he also had an English as a second language endorsement in addition to teaching social studies. Robinson lists himself as the assistant girls golf coach on his online resume and briefly participated in a student teacher program at Hillcrest High School.
Robinson also lists himself as a "student mentor" for Rose Park Elementary School.
"I also developed relationships with some students who have extremely difficult home situations with gatherings on the weekends where we would go for a hike, go to the natural history museum, and usually have lunch. I also developed relationships with many of the students' parents," he wrote on his LinkedIn page.
Horsley said investigators believe Robinson committed "multiple" district policy violations. Though he declined to go into specific detail, he said the relationship between the girl and Robinson is believed to have matured through the use of social media.
"We are just very disappointed. And this is definitely not a reflection of the great things that happen in our classrooms," Horsley said.
