An Indiana high school teacher was fired Tuesday after allegedly taking students to a strip club and serving them alcohol in his home, NBC News reported.
The Hanover Central High School chemistry teacher, who taught with the district for a decade, has been charged with three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Lechien, 31, had been suspended with pay since Sept. 10. All of the charges are Class A misdemeanors, punishable up to one year in prison. He's scheduled for an initial hearing Nov. 19, according to the Times of Northwest Indiana.
Court documents said Lechien allowed the students to drink beer and other alcoholic beverages at his home and took some of them to a strip club in Hammond to celebrate a student's birthday, NBC News reported.
An affidavit states Lechien and the students were pulled over on their way home from the strip club after Lechien, who was driving at the time, was speeding, according to public information officer Patti Van Til with the Lake County Sheriff's Department.
The affidavit also states several students, some 18 and others younger, said they often "hung out" at Lechien's house and sometimes drank beer and hard liquor, as well as, used flavored tobacco from a hookah the students said belonged to the teacher.
The school has reportedly been buzzing about the teacher's antics for some time.
"There were rumors among the students," Hanover Community School Corp. Supt. Tom Taylor said. "The administration and a school resource officer made the decision to investigate."
Merrillville Attorney Richard Wolter, who represents Lechien, declined to comment on the case before reviewing it further, but said Lechien would plead not guilty.
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