Teen shares footage of former teacher accused of taking illicit photos, video of students

By Taylor Thompson

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    MADISON COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — A former math teacher at Madison High School, Robert Burnette was arrested on 47 felony charges on May 24, 2022.

According to authorities, Burnette’s arrest took place after he was caught taking photos and recording students.

Last month, News 13 spoke with a former student of Burnette’s who was a victim.

Ashlyn Davis, another former student of Burnette’s, was the one who recorded Burnette allegedly taking inappropriate photos of her, which then ultimately led to his arrest.

Davis shared her story with News 13 on Wednesday, Nov. 8.

She has lived in Madison County her entire life. She said it was her freshman year of high school when things began to take a turn — when she was placed in Burnette’s math class.

Davis said Burnette started winking at her and that it progressively got worse.

“He was touching our backs, touching our legs,” she said, “and I eventually got to the point where I was constantly watching him.” She said she began to notice that Burnette would prop his phone up on his desk.

“Whenever the students would walk up to put their papers on the stand, he would move his hand forward to his phone like he was taking a picture,” she said.

She remembered the time she specifically caught Burnette taking a photo of her in one of their conversations.

“He had his phone facing right at me. He was taking a picture and I had asked him, like, ‘What are you doing?’ and he clicked again and just completely ignored me,” she said.

She said she left class that day with a lot of emotion as it was hard to process what was happening.

“I felt disgusted,” Davis said. “I felt like I was dirty, and whenever I was walking, I was wiping down my clothes because I didn’t know what to think.”

Ashlyn went home and explained to her dad, Billy Davis, what had happened.

Billy said as a parent, he was extremely upset, but as someone with a background in law enforcement, he knew that Ashlyn would need proof for anything to happen.

That’s when Ashlyn said she began to plan to change him, recording her.

“I would turn the brightness on my laptop screen all the way down so that I could see his reflection whenever he was walking up behind me,” she said.

She said she had her camera on her phone open and that it was hidden on her desk and she pressed record.

“That’s whenever I caught him two times recording, getting a picture of me,” she said.

She went to the principal’s office to show them the videos, and they immediately called the sheriff’s department.

Burnette was arrested just days later, on May 24, 2022.

Ashlyn said she briefly went back to school for the beginning of her sophomore year, but that, ultimately, it was just too much.

“I couldn’t stomach being in the school after what happened, and it seemed like everything was different,” she said. “It didn’t feel like school anymore, and I couldn’t bring myself to feel safe there anymore.”

She said she felt like Burnette completely took away her high school experience.

Ashlyn said she couldn’t stand being in a school in which she had been victimized.

In the last year and a half since Burnette was arrested, Ashlyn said she has experienced an emotional rollercoaster.

“It was a lot of showing up to court dates and him not showing and them being continued and continued,” she said.

She said Burnette was recently offered a possible plea deal that would not require him to serve any jail time.

“It’s very difficult that he gets a slap on the wrist after everything that he has done, after everything that he has put us victims through,” she said.

While Ashlyn said it’s been hard, she said she’s holding her head high that because of her actions, there will never be another girl at Madison High victimized by Burnette.

News 13 reached out to District Attorney Seth Banks for confirmation on the possible plea deal. He responded that, as of now, Burnette’s charges had not changed but that he could not go into further detail regarding plea negotiations.

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