AUBURN – A substitute school teacher at Leavitt Area High School in Turner is charged with sexually assaulting a student.

Seth Philip Prideaux, 22, of 165 Stetson Road in Lewiston, was charged Monday with three felony counts of gross sexual assault, punishable by up to five years in prison. He was released on $1,500 cash bail Monday after appearing in Lewiston District Court where a judge dismissed a misdemeanor charge of furnishing liquor to a minor in connection with the assault charges, a jail supervisor said.

Prideaux’s charges stem from his alleged sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old student at the high school, police wrote in a sworn affidavit filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

He taught French as a long-term substitute teacher at SAD 52, which includes Greene, Leeds and Turner. In an e-mail Monday, Superintendent Darlene Burdin said Prideaux’s name had been removed from the school’s substitute teacher list. A long-term substitute teacher is defined by the school as one who serves more than 10 days in the same assignment, she said.

On Sunday, Lewiston police responded to Prideaux’s home where the girl’s parents were yelling in his driveway. The father explained to police that his daughter had just admitted having sex with Prideaux.

Prideaux told police that he had sex with the girl three times Friday and Saturday. He also admitted to giving her wine, according to the affidavit.

He said they had known each other for years. They hadn’t had sex before, he told police.

Burdin said the district is working to support the girl and is conducting its own investigation.

“The news comes as a shock to the district because MSAD 52 completes its own criminal-history check on all applicants in addition to the Maine Department of Education’s requirement for fingerprinting and background check approval,” she wrote in a statement.

Prideaux is not certified as a teacher in Maine, but substitute teachers do not need to be certified unless they work more than 60 days on the same assignment, according to the state Education Department.

He was fingerprinted on June 11, 2005, and cleared for the classroom.

After graduating from Lewiston High School, he attended the University of Maine for two years, majoring in philosophy, that school said.

He has no criminal convictions, according to a search of state records.