Johnston County school officer, wife out on bail, charged with grooming student for sex
Wendell NC January 31 2023 A Johnston County school resource officer and his wife appeared in court Monday on sex charges involving a former student at Corinth Holders High School in Wendell.
The two are indicted on three charges each of taking indecent liberties with a student, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual servitude.
The prosecutor accused the couple of a “highly elaborate grooming process” of a troubled high school student who was 16, and then 17, at the time of the alleged offenses from 2015 to 2016.
“He was invited into their home and given alcohol. Videos were made of him doing sexual things and then given to Miss Medlin at school so she could watch,” the prosecutor said.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has been investigating the husband and wife since May for having inappropriate relationships with Johnston County students.
Mike Medlin, who was a Johnston County Sheriff’s Office deputy and school resource officer, was terminated by the sheriff’s office when the investigation began.
His wife, Ami Medlin, had been teaching for 22 years and worked as a family and consumer science teacher at Corinth Holders High School from 2015 until she was suspended in 2022.
The couple surrendered on Monday at 8 a.m. shortly before they appeared in court.
The assistant district attorney asked for a $75,000 bond for each of them, but their bonds ended up being $50,000 each. After about five hours in jail, each made bail and headed home without comment.
The victim, who is now an adult, was in the courtroom Monday when the Medlins appeared in court.
The courtroom was packed with friends and family of the Medlins who were there to support the couple.
Details of their alleged activities were made public in the letter from the sheriff’s office firing Mike Medlin. The letter alleged that the couple took a student home with them and invited the student into their bedroom to “watch movies” with them.
Mike Medlin admitted to being “involved” after the student was intoxicated, according to the sheriff’s office letter.
The letter alleged that the couple had inappropriate relationships with other children, including a girl who had been a babysitter for their children.
It’s unclear if Mike Medlin also worked in Corinth Holders High School.
He is accused of lying during an internal investigation, which is part of the reason why he was terminated.
A statement from Johnston County Public Schools states the district, “take[s] any allegations of staff misconduct seriously. Although we cannot discuss the specifics of an investigation into alleged staff misconduct, we can confirm that whenever such allegations arise, our administration responds swiftly, by investigating the allegations and, sometimes, by removing staff from classrooms pending completion of a thorough review. Beyond that, the school system is not at liberty to provide additional information.”
