PALM COAST, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida teen has been charged with sexually assaulting a female classmate at school.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office reports that the 16-year-old boy was arrested Monday evening and charged with second-degree sexual battery.

Authorities say the boy and a 14-year-old girl had been kissing in a Matanzas High School stairwell that morning when the boy forced the girl to perform a sex act on him. The girl told deputies the boy then forced her to have sex with him.

The boy has denied having sex with the girl but acknowledged that he met the girl in the stairwell.

Text messages sent between the two following the incident prompted the detectives to arrest the boy.

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