Mom uses tracking app to catch son having sex with teacher in her car
A mom used a popular tracking app to follow her son, only to discover that he had been sleeping with his teacher.
The popular but controversial app - named Life 360 - allows you to track the live location and routes taken by chosen family members and friends.
In this case, the mom had installed it on her 18-year-old son's phone.
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She followed the location which was reported by the app, and discovered - much to her horror - her son having sex with his teacher in a car.
The mom, who has not been named, took photos of the car's licence plate and called the police.
The teacher, 26-year-old Gabriela Cartaya-Neufeld, was arrested, WSOC reports.
Under state law, it is illegal for a teacher to have sex with a student regardless of age or consent - unless they are legally married.
Prosecutors said that the mom had learned that there was something going between her son and Cartaya-Neufeld over Thanksgiving.
She became more suspicious when her son failed to turn up to a sports practice, which she noticed because she had installed the app.
The mom saw her son's location in a park, where she discovered him and his teacher together.
Cartaya-Neufeld has been charged with five counts of felony sexual activity between a student and a teacher, according to police.
She was detained at Mecklenburg County jail before being released on bond.
A judge has also ordered her to wear an electronic tag after the student threatened to run away, raising concerns that they would run away together.
According to reports there had been rumours about the pair on the school campus, and they had both been questioned by school administrators.
A statement released by the school said: “Although I cannot discuss personnel information, I wanted to inform you that we take this matter seriously. We share your concerns regarding this situation.
"The safety and security of our students and staff is of the utmost importance to us all, and while this is a troubling situation, it is being managed by law enforcement.”
Life 360 has become increasingly popular with parents as a way to monitor their children.
The app can be programmed to ping a user in certain scenarios. This could be if the phone they are tracking is in a speeding car, or if it leaves a pre-designated area.
Critics of the app have raised concerns about how it could be used in an abusive setting.
These have included activists working for victims of human trafficking, who claim that the app was used to track victims.
A spokesperson for Life360 told UNILAD: "Life360 proudly serves over 58 million active users and has been directly instrumental in saving thousands of lives and solving thousands of crimes, like this one.
"This year, almost 1.5 million SOS alerts were sent through the app, 298,071 car crashes were detected, 68,200 members used roadside assistance, and over a thousand ambulances were dispatched to members in need. We remain steadfast in our commitment to family safety and will not allow isolated incidents of misconduct to dictate our overall strategy.
"We trust that the vast majority of our users will continue to employ our products as intended. Life360 distinguishes itself from competitors by our proactive stance on collaborating with law enforcement in cases where our platform is used illegally, actively working to bring perpetrators to justice."
Kit Roberts