A Bethlehem School District teacher and coach has been charged with sexual assault of a minor, the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.

Christopher Schweikert, a teacher at Freedom High School and head volleyball coach for the school, was charged with sexual assault by a sports official, corruption of a minor and institutional sexual assault.

Schweikert, 27, of Coplay, was placed on administrative leave.

District Attorney Terry Houck said that the Bethlehem Township Police Department became aware on Jan. 4 of an intimate relationship between a female student and a male teacher, identified as Schweikert.

Police learned that the girl and Schweikert met her freshman year at Freedom when he was her volleyball coach. Schweikert was also a coach for the East Coast Power juvenile girls’ volleyball team, in which the girl was also a member.

Schweikert began texting the girl in December 2021, and physical contact began a few months later, the district attorney said.

The girl told police that sexual relations continued through the summer of 2022. She told police they would meet at his home in Coplay, hotel rooms in Lehigh County, Asbury Park, New Jersey, and a parking lot in Bethlehem Township, according to the district attorney.

In addition, she told police that Schweikert gave her alcohol and cocaine on multiple occasions.

Police executed a search warrant for the girl’s cellphone and computer. An examination of the phone and computer by the Pennsylvania State Police Laboratory revealed a number of explicit videos of Schweikert engaging in sexual acts with the girl.

“The unspeakable trust violation that occurred, not only by a teacher on a student, but by a coach on his player, is reprehensible,” Houck said. “A child is in a particularly vulnerable position when interacting with an adult. Besides the normal position of authority an adult holds in a child’s life, it is further intensified when there is the added dynamic of being a teacher or a coach. I want to thank the Bethlehem Township Police Department and Detective Gretchen Kraemer for their tireless work in this case, in addition to the Department of Homeland Security Investigations RAC Allentown for their assistance in helping consolidate this investigation.”

Schweikert was taken into custody Friday morning at his residence. He was arraigned and bail was set at $1 million.

If anyone has additional information relating to the case, contact Detective Kraemer at 610-814-6473.