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Peoria Board Fires Teacher Accused of Grooming Student as Case Stays Under Review

Prosecutors have returned the case for more investigation, leaving charging decisions unresolved.

Overview

  • The Peoria Unified School District Governing Board, which voted March 26 to terminate Haley Beck, set an April 8 deadline for her to request a hearing to contest the firing.
  • A nearly 200-page police file alleges Beck groomed a male student starting in December 2024, bought him gifts, alcohol and drugs, paid him more than $600, let him use her car, and exchanged thousands of sexual and illegal texts.
  • Investigators cite messages in which Beck called herself the student’s “sugar momma” and wrote that their interactions “felt like straight prostitution,” along with a note acknowledging the “extremely wrong” relationship.
  • A second Centennial High School teacher, Angela Burlaka, is accused of sending nude videos that said the student’s name, and she has surrendered her Arizona teaching certificates.
  • Police recommended charging Beck with inducing prostitution and Burlaka with aggravated luring of a minor, but the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office sent the case back in February for more work and no charges or arrests have been announced; investigators say the student and his family declined to cooperate over scholarship concerns.