UPDATE 1/8 6:00 p.m.: Court documents say Franklin County Judge Michael Mead signed a warrant for Campana's arrest on Wednesday.

FRANKLIN, Neb. — A Nebraska high school football coach is facing a felony charge after police say he was in a sexual relationship with a student.

The Franklin County attorney filed a first-degree sexual abuse by a school employee charge against 37-year-old Anthony Campana on Tuesday. Campana is the head football coach at Franklin High School and worked at the school as a paraprofessional.

According to the arrest affidavit, a man called the sheriff’s office on Monday and reported that his 16-year-old daughter had a much-older boyfriend. A deputy responded to the caller’s workplace and found Campana in a car with the girl. The affidavit says the girl told the deputy that she had been communicating with Campana since she was 14 and had sexual intercourse with him in the fall when she was 16. The affidavit says Campana told authorities he was sexually active with the girl after she turned 16.

The age of consent in Nebraska is 16. The girl told the sheriff’s office that she was consenting, so authorities are not initially filing sexual assault or rape charges. The charge in this case exists because Campana was employed at the school the girl attended.

Sexual Abuse by a School Employee: "A person commits the offense of sexual abuse by a school employee if a school employee subjects a student in the school to which such employee is assigned for work to sexual penetration or sexual contact... It is not a defense to a charge under this section that the student consented to such sexual penetration or sexual contact."

Sheriff’s officials cited Campana for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and released him. On Tuesday, the county attorney filed the elevated charge and requested an arrest warrant. As of Wednesday morning, a judge was still reviewing the motion for the warrant. The sheriff’s office confirmed that Campana was not booked into the local jail.

First-degree sexual abuse by a school employee is a class 2A felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Franklin Public Schools sent a message to parents on Tuesday. The district said it was aware of the situation involving an employee and an alleged relationship with a student. The message said the suspect is no longer employed by FPS and will not be permitted on school grounds or at school events. The district said in the message that it is cooperating with the investigation.

Campana has been on the Franklin football coaching staff since 2018 and has been head coach since 2022. He also was owner and head coach of the Kearney Hawks, a short-lived professional indoor football team that folded in 2017.