Marshall Teacher Enters Plea In Student Sex Abuse Case

A former teacher at Marshall High School has now entered a plea to a charge connected to his alleged sexual abuse of a student.

WWMT says that 33-year-old Jason Bushong of the Battle Creek area pleaded no contest to first-degree criminal sexual conduct, with a charge of third degree CSC being dropped in the plea deal. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as one at sentencing.

Investigators say that he had a sexual relationship with a 15 to 16 year old student, which was discovered after the girl’s mother caught them in a car near his Bedford Township home; the abuse allegedly occurred in both Marshall and Bedford Township.  Authorities believe he also had approached other teenage girls.

Bushong had been set to go to trial in August, but the trial was delayed after his defense claimed prosecutors had not provided certain reports and documents to them, or that they hadn't provided them in a timely manner.

First degree criminal sexual conduct carries up to life in prison, but he could get a much lower sentence with his plea.