A Creekview High School teacher and coach was arrested Wednesday amid allegations he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female Creekview student.

The teacher, 31-year-old Adam Blake Bearden of Ball Ground, has been charged with four counts of sexual assault.

Bearden, a special education teacher and track and field coach, turned himself in Wednesday afternoon, according to Lt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office.

As of Wednesday afternoon, he was being held at the Cherokee Adult Detention Center. His bond had been set at $44,800.

“It is believed the relationship took place off campus over a three-month period,” Baker said in a statement.

Sheriff’s Office officials believe the alleged relationship between Bearden and the student was consensual, Baker said.

“However, in Georgia, it is illegal for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with a student,” he added. Bearden is facing felony charges in the case.

The school system learned of allegations regarding the relationship over Thanksgiving break, school district spokesperson Barbara Jacoby said.

A letter to parents is expected to go home with students today.

After an initial inquiry Monday, the school district began an internal investigation Tuesday morning.

School district police notified the sheriff’s office of the allegations, and the criminal investigation began later Tuesday. That night, detectives executed a search warrant at Bearden’s home, Baker said.

Prior to the start of classes Wednesday, Bearden was reassigned to a non-school worksite due to the investigation, Jacoby said.

Under school district policy Bearden will remain working at a non-school worksite until the school board takes action regarding his employment based on the findings of an ongoing internal investigation, Jacoby said.

Bearden’s personnel file did not indicate any past disciplinary infractions, according to Jacoby.

Bearden was a substitute teacher in 2008 and 2009, then was hired by the Cherokee County school district as a special education paraprofessional at Creekview in 2009, Jacoby said. He began working as a teacher at Creekview in July 2010.

Bearden is also the girls track and field head coach and the boys and girls cross-country assistant coach at the high school.