By Dee Camp
Chronicle staff

     A Grand Coulee teacher was charged last week with four crimes related to his alleged affair with a student, now 15.
     Vernon E. Heizer, 50, Nespelem, is charged in Okanogan County Superior Court with two counts of third-degree rape of a child, third-degree child molestation and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.
     He was arrested July 16 at his home on Columbia River Road near Nespelem and made a preliminary court appearance the next day. Visiting Judge Lesley A. Allan, Chelan County, found probable cause to keep Heizer in custody and set bail at $150,000.
     Heizer asked that he be released on his own recognizance so he could check on his elderly parents.
     The judge refused. Along with posting either cash bail or a bond, the judge set several conditions for Heizer's release, including that he have no contact with the alleged victim and not go within 100 yards of her residence, school, work place or church.
     He is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. July 26. As of July 24, he remained in jail.
     According to court records, the incidents occurred between October or November 2006 and July 2007.
     Okanogan County sheriff Frank Rogers said Heizer was arrested the evening of July 26 at his home by deputy Denis Irwin and Sgt. Mike Worden. Rogers said his office's detectives had worked on the investigation for several months and continue to do so.
     Rogers said Heizer works as a middle school teacher in Grand Coulee. He also is a reserve officer with a municipal law enforcement agency in Grant County and previously was a reserve officer with the Grand Coulee Dam Police Department.
     According to a probable cause statement quoted in court by deputy prosecutor Emma Paulson, Heizer's ex-wife provided a cell phone and photos to police. Based on those items, detective Kreg Sloan acquired a search warrant and contacted the alleged victim.
     The girl indicated Heizer had been her teacher and that they'd begun a relationship while she was 14. She turned 15 June 8.
     A probable cause statement from Worden, based on information provided by Sloan, alleged that officers were given a cell phone, printouts of phone records, note paper, photographs and some artwork.
     In court, Paulson alleged Heizer gave the girl a cell phone and that they called each other and sent text messages back and forth over a period of several months. The relationship apparently began with inappropriate talk, then escalated to touching and a sexual relationship, she said.
     Meetings between the two were arranged via cell phone, with the girl sneaking out of her house and Heizer picking her up, Allan was told.
     The probable cause statement alleged that the two used a condom each time they had sex, that they once watched a movie on his laptop computer and that they had e-mailed each other pictures of their genital areas.
     From 1:17 a.m. Jan. 1 to 11:15 p.m. Jan. 2, the girl allegedly sent Heizer 25 text messages, according to the statement. From 3:24 a.m. Jan. 1 to 8 a.m. Jan. 2, Heizer allegedly sent 30 text messages to the girl.
     From Dec. 5, 2006, to June 3, 2007, there allegedly were 4,857 calls made from or received by the cell phones the two used, though investigators found that other members of Heizer's family used the phones after his ex-wife got them back from him.
     The girl, identified as T.B., knew what they did was wrong, but that "he was a husband, a policeman, a teacher and a dad and he didn't think he would hurt her," according to the probable cause statement.
     Investigators said they recovered trash, used condoms and a wireless users' manual form in an area where the girl alleged she'd had sex with Heizer.
     Their last sexual encounter was around July 2, according to the probable cause statement.
     Allan found probable cause to hold Heizer and appointed a public defender to represent him. Although Heizer is employed as a teacher making about $34,000 a year, Allan found that he "probably would have a problem with employment" as a result of the allegations.
     Heizer said he had about $1,500 in a checking account and could not afford an attorney.
     Heizer has no previous criminal record, Paulson told the court.