An unlawful contact with a minor charge was dropped against a Warren man at his formal arraignment recently in the Court of Common Pleas.

The charge against Logan N. Beard, 35, of Warren was one of the three third-degree felony charges filed against Beard in March. Third-degree felony charges of corruption of minors – defendant age 18 or above and unlawful contact with a minor – sexual offenses, will proceed to court as well as a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure. Beard appeared April 23 in front of President Judge Gregory Hammond in the Court of Common Pleas, with the next court date scheduled for June 8.

Charges against Beard were filed after a decade-old incident surfaced after Beard was hired as a long-term substitute teacher in the Warren County School District. Warren police say Beard was charged following an investigation into an alleged inappropriate relationship between Beard and a youth involved in a youth choir in 2016.

Gary Weber, Warren County School District superintendent, told the Times Observer that the district was notified before the charges were filed.

“(Wednesday) afternoon, the Warren County School District was notified that Logan Beard was going to be charged today for crimes involving a minor committed approximately 10 years ago,” Weber said. “We immediately removed Mr. Beard from the school pending any legal action. Mr. Beard was recently hired as a long-term substitute at Beaty-Warren Middle School.”

According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause, the unnamed person went to police with text messages sent after the alleged 2016 incident during which Beard allegedly apologized for the incident. Beard, the affidavit states, was an assistant in a theater program that included school students at the time.

“She had just found out that he had become a teacher for Beaty Middle School and was concerned that this could happen to another person,” the affidavit states.