LAWRENCE, Mass. — Authorities said the “inappropriate relationship” between a former Massachusetts teacher and swim coach and a 16-year-old student athlete was not sexual in nature but represented an abuse of power nonetheless.

According to police, Elizabeth Backler, 28, of Newburyport, Massachusetts took the young North Andover High School swim team member to dinner, invited her to her apartment and bought her expensive gifts.

Backler has been accused of giving the girl painkillers, including highly addictive OxyContin pills, Valium and muscle relaxers, according to prosecutors.

Police said the victim, after meeting with a therapist this summer, told them that Backler gave her muscle relaxers and OxyContin painkillers after she complained of pain or injuries after swim meets. On one occasion, after giving her a prescription bottle containing muscle relaxers, Backler told the girl “not to tell her mother that she was giving her the pills,” according to a police report.

“Quite frankly, this is an abuse of power by this defendant,” said prosecutor Heidi Rose Mader, during Backler’s arraignment Tuesday.

Backler, who most recently taught at the area’s Amesbury Innovation High School, was released on personal recognizance after her arraignment on three counts, including distribution of oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin, and distribution of diazepam, which is marketed as Valium.

North Andover, Massachusetts Police Officer Michael Reardon, in a report, said there was no indication there had been any sexual encounters between Backler and the girl.

However, on June 29, Scott Young, the North Andover High assistant principal, called police after he learned of a “possible inappropriate relationship” between Backler and a female student.

Reardon and Young met with the student and her mother. At that time, Backler was no longer a teacher at North Andover High but had remained the swim coach for the 2015 season, according to the report.

The girl’s mother told police said she came forward with the information after another parent at the Andover/North Andover YMCA, where Backler also coached, “had similar concerns about Backler,” Reardon wrote.

Harmacinski writes for the North Andover (Massachusetts) Eagle-Tribune.