South Central Teacher Charged w/Distributing Harmful Materials to Student

STORY COURTESY OF W-J-B-D RADIO, SALEM

A 36-year-old South Central High School Special Education teacher has been charged in Marion County Court with distributing pornographic cell phone messages to one of her male students.

Sian Kuester of South Pruyn in Salem is accused of a Class 4 felony offense of harmful materials for using a cellphone to knowingly distribute to a minor under the age of 18 photographs of her naked body as well as a video of a sexual act. The charge states the text messages had been sent at various times through 2016.

Kuester had earlier been suspended without pay for five days by the school board when she reportedly refused to stop texting the boy when ordered by school officials to do so. Marion County State's Attorney Matt Wilzbach says the boy's mother did not go to the sheriff's department to report the sexual nature of the texts until two days after the last school board meeting on October 21st.

South Central Superintendent Kerry Herdes says after receiving confirmation of the findings of the sheriff's department investigation, Kuester was immediately put on administrative leave with pay that will continue until there is a resolution to the court case. He reports she has not been back at the school since October 21st.

Wilzbach says there is no indication anything happened between the two other than the text messages. He also reports the investigation didn't turn up any other student was involved. Wilzbach says the texting between the student and Kuester apparently began when she was helping him with school work.

Wilzbach agreed to give Kuester a notice to appear in court for November 29th at nine am, instead of issuing an arrest warrant because she is going through a divorce and has two young children without anyone else to care for them if she was taken into custody.