Newly released bodycam footage shows a Florida teacher walking police through her classroom while confessing to sexual encounters with a 17-year-old student.
Heather Mashburn-Smith, 37, was arrested on April 29 at Port Charlotte High School in Charlotte County, Florida, according to bodycam footage obtained by Law & Crime. The video captures her speaking calmly with deputies from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office while pointing out exactly where the illicit activity occurred.
“Can you just show us where in the room the sexual activity took place?” A deputy asks in the footage. Mashburn-Smith, wearing glasses and appearing nervous but composed, walks the officers toward the back of the classroom and gestures toward a pair of desks.
“I feel like it was these desks,” she says, before reconsidering and moving to others. “I’m pretty sure it was these ones.”
She then provides graphic details about the encounters. “As far as the intercourse goes, this is the desk that we leaned back on,” she continues, describing how she positioned herself on top of the teen while he sat in a chair facing her. She walks officers through multiple positions and directions the pair faced during the encounters.
The relationship allegedly began after the student called Mashburn-Smith “pretty” on Snapchat, according to court documents. The teen then began making extra trips to her classroom, where flirting escalated to kissing and eventually sexual activity on at least two occasions, an affidavit states.
In the bodycam footage, Mashburn-Smith explains how she facilitated the meetings. She admits to sometimes leaving a crack in the side door so the boy could slip in after football practice. Other times, she says, he would knock and she would let him inside.
“It’s not like I let him in and we went right to it or anything,” she tells the officers. “We would hug and talk … like I said it was not premeditated sex.”
Charging documents reveal Mashburn-Smith complained to the student about her marriage and told him she wanted to leave her husband for him once he turned 18, the legal age of consent in Florida. This revelation alarmed the teen, who stopped communicating with her and blocked her on Snapchat, according to the affidavit. Mashburn-Smith continued messaging him despite being blocked.
Mashburn-Smith ultimately admitted everything to investigators, telling officers she “made a mistake.” She acknowledged knowing the student was “just a teenager” but said he made her feel desired, according to the documents.
The bodycam video concludes with Mashburn-Smith being placed in handcuffs and escorted from the school to a police station.
In the viral moment that preceded her arrest, the case began with Snapchat messages and escalated to secret classroom meetings where a married teacher allegedly groomed a student half her age. The boy’s decision to block her after she spoke of leaving her husband for him triggered the investigation that led to her confession.
Mashburn-Smith faces charges of unlawful sexual activity with minors, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison under Florida law. She has been suspended from her teaching position at Port Charlotte High School.