Prosecutors said the Spring High School science teacher had sex with a 16-year-old-student at least twice, once in March and once in April.
After one of the encounters, prosecutors said Higgins left a pair of underwear in his truck. Those panties are expected to be used as evidence in the case against her.
The alleged relationship was discovered by Higgins' ex husband after he found some inappropriate text messages between his then-wife and the student on a cell phone that Higgins had given to the couple's 8-year-old son, prosecutors said.
"There was some sexual innuendoes in the text messages, but there was certainly evidence of a relationship by the text messages that were occurring, and the time frame that they were occurring," said Assistant State Attorney Denise Oncken.
"We don' t know what the evidence is because they jumped the gun and filed the charges without a complete investigation," said Higgin's attonrey, Troy McKinney.
Higgins -- a mother of two who still retains custody of her children -- is charged with sexual assault of a child and having an inappropriate relationship between an educator and a student. She is now on paid administrative leave.
If convicted, Higgins could face 2-20 years in prison for each charge.
QUICK HEADLINES | MORE LOCAL | GET NEWS ALERTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABC13 SOCIAL NETWORKING
Find us on Facebook® | Follow us on Twitter | More social networking
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MORE FROM ABC13
ABC13 widget | Most popular stories |
Street-level weather
ABC13 wireless |
Slideshow archive |
Help solve crimes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
