A 44-year-old physical education and health teacher in Virginia was subjected to a bizarrely creepy attack Friday, when her one-time boyfriend gave her a hug, then chopped off eight to twelve inches of her hair.

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The victim, a middle school teacher, hasn't been identified by name, but her alleged attacker has: he's Melvin Hunt, 61, also a P.E. teacher at another school, this one serving special needs kids. ("Great! That's the sort of man we need around vulnerable children!" you're now thinking, correctly.)

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the two P.E. teachers had planned to meet at the woman's school and set off on a trip together Friday afternoon. But instead, after Hunt arrived and she got into his car to talk, he told her the trip was off. Then he asked for her car keys, "so he could put a letter in her vehicle for her to read later," according to a criminal complaint obtained by the newspaper.

The woman, presumably baffled by this point, handed over the keys. Hunt put a letter on the passenger's seat of her car, then asked for a hug. As they embraced, he grabbed her by her ponytail and lopped off her hair; she realized what was happening when she saw it hit the ground.

Hunt then grabbed the woman's keys, threw them over a fence, and drove off. He was arrested on Sunday at his home and charged with misdemeanor assault. The woman has been granted an emergency order of protection against him. Police said the two weren't currently in a relationship but in court papers, the victim said she was Hunt's girlfriend, a situation she has hopefully remedied by now.

[Creepily apropos image via Shutterstock]