Police: Teacher had sex with students
CANTON — A nowsuspended female teacher told police she engaged in sexual conduct with several Canton McKinley High School students, one of whom later pressured her for money.
Canton police released copies of three initial reports that officers filed last week in response to a public-records request by The Canton Repository. The name of the teacher was redacted on the reports, as were the names of the students listed as victims and interviewed by detectives.
Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Fred Scott said police continue to investigate several leads, and prosecutors have been in contact with the teacher’s attorney. When the investigation is completed, prosecutors will present the evidence to a grand jury and seek an indictment, Scott said. No charges have been filed.
Scott declined to comment on specific details of the investigation.
According to police reports, investigators learned about the situation Thursday and interviewed the teacher that evening. During the interview, the teacher “disclosed engaging in sexual conduct with multiple students,” according to the reports. Two reports covered an incident in which the teacher met with one student and drove him to a park, where they had sex in her vehicle.
According to a summary of the interview, the teacher said she engaged in sexual conduct with one student twice in one night. The first time, she took him to a place where they engaged in sexual conduct in her vehicle; a few hours later, she went to the student’s residence, where they engaged in sexual conduct in the basement.
She told police during the week of Feb. 26 that the student contacted her and said he needed $180 for antibiotics and she should leave money in a bag near his house. The teacher said she left $100, but the student wanted more money, including money for a sibling who had learned of their encounters.
The full interview with the teacher at the police department was recorded on video, according to documents.
The teacher was placed on unpaid administrative leave on Friday and is not receiving pay or benefits until further notice.
One report states that the high school’s school resource officer contacted detectives after being told that a teacher — not identified at that point — had admitted to school security officials having “sex with several boys and they were blackmailing her into paying money or they were going to ...” The rest of the sentence is redacted.
School officials told police that several students disclosed they engaged in sexual conduct with the teacher, and someone whose identity was redacted sent a message asking “you swear no one knows?” to one of the students while he was being interviewed by an assistant principal, according to a report.
Detectives interviewed one student who said a few weeks ago he was called into the teacher’s office after school. Details about what happened in the office are blocked. The student told police that the conversation with the teacher started on the social media app Snapchat.