ARLINGTON, Wash. -- A 37-year-old Arlington man has been charged with third-degree rape of a child following an investigation by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office that the man, a principal at a private school, had sex with a 14-year-old female student.

Sheriff’s detectives said they began investigating the matter in June when the girl’s parents, who live in unincorporated Arlington, reported her as a runaway.

Police said they later discovered that the girl's principal, Mark Evan Brown, had allowed her to sleep at the Highland Christian School for a short period of time instead of reporting her whereabouts to authorities.

According to probable cause documents, over the past three months Brown and the girl have exchanged hundreds of text messages and phone calls. Some of the conversations encouraged the girl to run away from home and that Brown would provide her a place to stay.

One day in June the girl took up his offer and ran away from home, the documents stated.

The girl told the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office that Brown prepared a little-used room at the school for her to stay in by putting a hide-a-way bed and a TV in it for her, according to the documents.

Earlier this week, the girl told detectives she’d had sex with Brown while she was staying at the Arlington school, investigators said.

Brown was arraigned Wednesday and charged and booked into the Snohomish County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Kristin Sande, a mother of three students at Highland Christian and a secretary of the school's board, said in a statement:"The board and staff of Highland Christian School stand behind our principal Mark Brown. Mr. Brown is now on administrative leave while this investigation continues. We will continue to support him and his wife and his son through this ordeal he is going through. We continue to plan for the upcoming school year."

Detectives said they are not aware of any additional victims at this time. The case is now with the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office.