Cary, N.C. — A former teacher's assistant at East Cary Middle School facing indecent liberties charges died Monday in a wreck in California, authorities said Wednesday.

Mark Jay Fox, 62, of 101 Marshburg Lane in Cary, was charged last month with taking indecent liberties with a child.

California Highway Patrol reports that a Jeep Cherokee Fox was driving went off a 600-foot cliff above Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles east of Long Beach, Calif. Authorities haven't determined what caused the vehicle to veer across the highway and over the cliff.

In court documents, investigators alleged that Fox repeatedly touched an 11-year-old girl's behind at the girl's home. The girl wasn't a student at East Cary Middle, police said.

Fox was suspended with pay before he resigned after his arrest, school district spokesman Michael Evans said. He was hired in fall 2009 as a teacher's assistant at East Cary Middle.