Howard County police arrested a Mt. Hebron High School teacher Dec. 22 and charged him with sexually abusing a 17-year-old female student over a period of two years.

Police said Dec. 23 that Robert Douglas Johnston, 61, of the 4400 block of Brittany Drive, in Ellicott City, was arrested Dec. 22 after turning himself in to police.

He is charged with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses and obscene telephone misuse, according to police.

Johnston is the school’s instrumental music teacher and band director, said Patti Caplan, a school system  spokeswoman. He has been employed by the Howard County Public School System since 1969, she said.
 
School officials notified police of what they believed to be an inappropriate relationship between Johnston and the student after obtaining an e-mail that included copies of e-mail exchanges between Johnston and the girl, police said. While the e-mails were not sexual in nature, they indicated a close personal relationship between Johnston and the girl, police said.

Detectives contacted the girl, and after interviews and investigation, believe Johnston had been sexually abusing the girl inside the school since she was 15, police said.

The girl told police that her relationship with Johnston began in October 2006 when she began taking music lessons from him, according to charging documents.

Johnston first hugged her around Christmas of 2006 and the relationship later progressed to include fondling and sex acts that occurred in the lounge of the school’s band room, according to charging documents. The girl also told police that Johnston had engaged in lewd telephone calls with her, according to charging documents.

At a bail review hearing Dec. 24, Howard County District Court Judge Neil E. Axel reduced bail from $350,000 to $25,000.
 
Assistant State's Attorney Laurie Haas said that while the state did not believe Johnston posed a significant flight risk, the $350,000 was deemed "an appropriate amount." Johnston's attorney, Michele M. Shimek, asked for a lower bail bond based on Johnston's long ties to the community and because he had turned himself in to investigators.
 
In setting bail, Judge Axel ordered Johnston not to have any contact with the victim and her family, and to not return to the school. School officials placed Johnston on administrative leave on Dec. 8, Caplan said.

The charging documents also show that an in-school investigation was done in February 2007, when the same student was seen by a parent sitting on the suspect’s lap in the suspect’s office.

Johnston began his 39-year career in the county teaching classes at both Glenwood Middle School and Glenelg High School, Caplan said, adding that he has been at Mt. Hebron since 1974.

A person who answered the phone at Johnston’s house on Dec. 23 declined to comment.

This article has been updated.