FAIRMONT — A freshman cheerleading coach at North Marion High School was arrested Tuesday by the West Virginia State Police on three counts of sexual abuse by a person in a position of trust to a child.

According to the criminal complaint filed at the Marion County Magistrate Court, Amanda Jo “Mandy” Barker, 31, of Mannington, is charged with allegedly performing oral sex three times on a 16-year-old male student.

According to Sgt. Adam Scott of the State Police, the arrest came after a student told Rob Shaffer, assistant principal at North, of hearing that Barker had performed oral sex on a fellow student. Barker is a compensated volunteer cheerleading coach at the school.

Scott and Matthew Croft, DHHR institutional investigator, met with the student at the school, where he denied at first the actions had taken place. He said he’d texted this to his girlfriend “to make her jealous, but it never really happened.”

Then, the complaint continues, he admitted the actions had taken place on three separate times, all in the living room of Barker’s home during the winter last school year.

The victim said he is at her house “all the time” because he is good friends with her husband, who was his soccer coach, and that his family is good friends with the Barkers. He has known them for about two years, he told Scott.

They flirted with each other, Scott wrote in the report. “Apparently she thought he liked her,” Scott wrote in the complaint.

After the third incident, they agreed it shouldn’t have happened, and they could not tell anyone, the complaint states.

The victim said all three incidents happened in the same manner and location. Barker’s family “must have been in bed” when the actions took place, the complaint reads.

The victim said nothing else happened between him and Barker, that she never asked him to touch her and they never had sexual intercourse. He said Barker allegedly asked him if he wanted to do anything else, but he said no because “it felt wrong.” He told Scott he finally either texted or called Barker and explained he couldn’t do anything more with her.

His parents knew he was going to be there when he went, he told Scott. For a long time, he went to the Barkers’ every weekend to eat dinner, play videos and shoot basketball.

The victim said he told his best friend about the incidents.

When Scott met with Barker at the West Virginia State Police Fairmont Detachment, she originally denied the accusations. Scott told her she was not under arrest and was free to leave at any time.

She told Scott she knew the victim and he played soccer for her husband. She also said he is a friend of the family. He is “like a little brother” to her husband, she said, and that he has spent the night at her home on weekends and also comes over to play video games.

She told Scott the victim was at her house a lot and “had a flirting way about him.” She said she performed oral sex three times on him, each time on the living room couch. It would start when he acted like he was going to bed and she would follow him, the complaint states.

She said they finally agreed to stop because they knew it was wrong. She said she knew she “could possibly” be in trouble for doing this.

She said she’d never done this with any other minors.

“The guilt set in,” the complaint said she told Scott, and she was “embarrassed, regretful and worried about all of this.” She told Scott she doesn’t think she has a problem that she needs help for.

“It was just a lustful thing and the flesh gave in,” she told Scott. She said the victim had a choice, too, but she “should have been the adult about it.”

Scott also spoke with the victim’s mother, who said she knew her son would spend the night and “a lot of time” at the Barkers’ residence. They were friends of the family, she said, and when her son was there, the Barkers were in a position of trust to her son and she expected him to be safe while spending time there.

She told Scott she “could not believe” Barker did this to her son and was very upset over the alleged crime, after “placing so much trust in that family.”

“We’re not to comment on proceedings while they’re in place, especially when they involve a student,” said North Marion High School principal Rusty DeVito.

“When allegations of this nature arise, our first priority is to ensure the safety and protect the identity of the child or children,” said Marion County Superintendent of Schools Gary Price.

“Once that is established, either Marion County Board of Education employees or appropriate authorities will conduct an investigation. Following the investigation, their may or may not be a personnel recommendation placed before the board of education, depending on the facts of the case.”

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Barker has been suspended with pay, sourcing Andy Neptune, an administrative assistant for personnel in Marion County schools.

Barker has posted a $15,000 bond and faces 30 to 60 years in prison if convicted.

Email Debra Minor Wilson at dwilson@timeswv.com.