ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Most laws have a loophole or two, but it’s hard to imagine one as disturbing as the one found in Maryland’s sex abuse law for school employees.

Maryland law criminalizes sexual contact between people in a position of authority and a minor in their care. The laws applies to principals, vice principals, teachers and school counselors.

Here’s the loophole: The law only applies to individuals who are full-time, permanent employees, Gazette.net reports.

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Shockingly, this means that part-time school employees, substitute teachers, volunteers and coaches won’t face criminal charges if they are found having relations with a student.

And there is at least one former teacher who is all too aware of the fine print.

In 2012, Scott Spear, a former social studies teacher at a Montgomery County middle school, was charged with two counts of fourth-degree sex offense.

Spear, who at the time of the allegations was 47, also served as the high school girls’ track and field coach. District prosecutors accused him of having sex with a 16-year-old former student, who was also an athlete on the team.

The charges against Spear were dropped three months after they were filed, not because prosecutors thought Spear was innocent, but because the law did not cover the circumstances surrounding the case, Gazette.net reports.

At the time of the alleged offense, Spear had already resigned from his teaching position at the middle school and was only coaching track and field part-time at Montgomery Blair High School.

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According to the law, Spear could not be prosecuted based on his part-time employment status and because the student was 16, the legal age of consent.

The exposed technicality greatly angered many around the state, including State Senator Jamie Raskin, who recently introduced a bill to close the loophole. His bill reportedly broadens the list of people in authority, going as far as to include school volunteers.

“We don’t send our kids to school with the expectation that the teachers and coaches are going to be trolling for dates and trying to sleep with the students. So I understand what the age of consent is but this bill goes to exploitation of positions of power over young people,” Raskin told WUSA.

While state legislators are working to eliminate the technicality, Spear has reportedly resigned from Montgomery County Schools and still maintains his innocence.