Eric Burton. PHOTO PROVIDED BY COBB COUNTY SHERIFF

In early March, a 13-year-old Lycoming County girl began having an online relationship with someone she was led to believe was a 15-year-old male, according to court records. About two months into the relationship, their conversations turned sexual in nature ,which eventually resulted in the two exchanging nude photos of one another. However, the male only sent photos of his private parts or “very dark pictures of himself with no facial detail that the girl could discern,” according to state police at the Montoursville barracks.

Investigators said that teenage male, who used a fake name with the girl, allegedly turned out to be Eric Stephen Burton, a 44-year-old social studies teacher at a high school in Woodstock, Georgia, a city with a population of 35,000 northeast of Marietta.

Burton was arrested last week in Georgia and brought here overnight Wednesday to face five felony counts each of photographing-videotaping sexual acts of a minor, unlawful contact with a minor, illegal use of a communication device plus one felony count of corrupting the morals of a minor as well as five misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and one count of tampering with evidence.

Once the girl and Burton began exchanging nude photos, Burton asked her to send him “more and more nude photos” of her, it was alleged in an affidavit. The girl told investigators she sent Burton “about 100 photos and 10 videos of herself nude;” some of the images showing her “manipulating” her private area as requested by Burton, police alleged. By examining her online account, the girl could see that “the teenage boy” was “saving her pictures and videos,” the affidavit stated.

When the girl informed Burton sometime in early August that her parents had learned that she had an “online boyfriend,” he told her to “factory reset” her cellphone, thereby erasing all data, settings and applications stored on the device, police alleged. Burton also blocked the girl on his online account. The girl’s mother first filed a report with police on Aug. 6.

It turned out that one month before Burton terminated his relationship with the girl, he “accidentally rotated the camera on his phone to point directly at his own face” during a live video call with the minor, the victim told investigators. It was only at this point that the girl realized she had been communicating with someone who was “visibly older than 15,” the affidavit stated.

When the girl asked Burton to show her proof of his age, he sent her a photo of a birth certificate with the assumed name he had been using. On the certificate, the date of birth was listed as January 2006, making him 18, police said.

Through their investigation, police determined the online account Burton allegedly used to communicate with the minor was actually in his wife’s name. Information on the account gave the couple’s address in Kennesaw, Georgia, the affidavit stated. Data also revealed that in mid-July, the computer device Burton was allegedly using for this online affair was “at the Etowah High School in Woodstock,” where he teaches social studies, court records stated.

When the girl was shown a photo of Burton, she positively identified him as the man she saw earlier in the video call, police said.

Arraigned about 2 a.m. Thursday by District Judge Denise Dieter, Burton told her, “I want this resolved. I’m not a flight risk.”

He was denied bail and automatically committed to the Lycoming County Prison.