A former Manitou Springs teacher and coach had sexual intercourse with a former student on school grounds multiple times, and reported concerns about that relationship were not included in his official file, according to court papers.

Former Manitou Springs High School English teacher and soccer coach Matthew Barton allegedly had a sexual relationship with a former student that lasted approximately three years and involved meetings on school grounds, according to an arrest affidavit filed by the Manitou Springs Police Department.

Conversations with people concerned about that alleged relationship, police wrote in the affidavit, were summarized in notes and letters dated from 2011 to 2012. Those notes and letters were not kept in Barton’s official file with the school’s human resources department, according to the affidavit, but in separate past employee folders also containing letters sent to Barton from prior administrative staff regarding an investigation.

Two calls to the district for further information about the folders and past administrative staff were not immediately returned.

Barton, 53, turned himself in to authorities Jan. 10, hours after the arrest affidavit was filed, according to a press release. He’s accused of sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust, and a pattern of sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust.

Police received a tip from a staff member with the Manitou Springs Police Department on Dec. 2, claiming that a prior teacher had been accused of sexual assault on a child and that they didn’t know the extent to which that had been investigated. The tipster was not named in the arrest affidavit.

Police coordinated with current administrative staff to obtain information about the relationship. When administrative staff found the separate past employee folders, police executed two search warrants to obtain notes and letters, dated from 2011 to 2012, on information previously confided to individuals unidentified in the affidavit.

Several of the notes and letters stated Barton’s wife had come forward with concerns about him after she’d accessed his email and social media accounts and seen messages between him and the older sister of the person he was in the alleged relationship with.

The sister, Barton’s wife said according to the notes and letters, confronted Barton over Facebook, threatening to tell police or the school about the alleged relationship. When interviewed by police in December, the sister confirmed she’d confronted Barton, adding that he replied with “ok.” His wife said Barton told her the sister had confused him with another teacher, according to one of the notes.

Manitou Springs police also coordinated with an unidentified police department with jurisdiction where the woman who was in the alleged relationship, now 29, lives.

The woman said in a January interview with detectives that she and Barton had had “sexual intercourse … on school grounds multiple times” and that their “relationship lasted approximately three years,” according to the affidavit.

She told detectives that she and Barton met at several different locations during the relationship, including Barton’s home, his truck, behind some of his rental properties, the school basement and the school storage room.

Barton, the affidavit said, is currently living at the Fountain Valley School, a boarding school in southeast Security-Widefield where his wife works. When called Jan. 11, Head of School William Webb told The Gazette Barton did not currently live on campus.

Barton, according to court records, bonded out of jail Jan. 10, the day after he turned himself in. He’s next due in court March 15 for a preliminary hearing, when the court will decide then whether he will go to trial.

Matthew Barton, 53.

Mug shot courtesy of the Manitou Springs Police Department