A 24-year-old maths teacher has resigned after allegedly sending a student nude photos and asking if he wanted to play "naked hide and seek".
Kelsie Schmidt is said to have sent X-rated images to a 17-year-old at Beulah High School in North Dakota last August.
According to court documents, Schmidt, who was in her first year of teaching, was arrested on January 23 after a student told a detective "that he could get the math teacher in trouble for pictures that she had sent him."
The pupil was brought in for an interview after reports spread that a teacher had been sending nude photos on Snapchat. Schmidt reportedly resigned two days later.
According to The Dickinson Press, three or four photos were sent in total; one was said to be of the 24-year-old naked from the waist up, with her hair covering part of her breasts. Another was allegedly of Schmidt's legs with the message "get a group and play naked hide and seek".
The maths teacher was charged last week with the felony of luring minors by computer or other means, after allegedly admitting to sending the nude photos of herself to the 17-year-old.
On Tuesday, she appeared in South Central District Court where her bond was set at 10 per cent of $10,000. The 24-year-old is reportedly due back in court on February 27.
Tom Dickson, Schmidt’s attorney, named it "a very unfortunate situation for everyone, but certainly it’s a very serious allegation and we are treating it very seriously".
The case follows Stephanie Peterson, who was sentenced to three years in prison in December after confessing to having a sexual relationship with her 14-year-old student.
The 27-year-old was forced to register as a sexual offender for the rest of her life, after admitting to having sex with the eighth-grader in her car twice, as well as performing oral sex on him on multiple occasions.
The former New Smyrna Bead Middle School teacher's lawyers had allegedly hoped she would avoid jail, citing her struggle with bipolar and the loss of her teaching career in her defence, as well as claiming the victim was a "willing participant".
However, the judge insisted she pay for her mistakes after an emotional testimony from the 14-year-old's mother, who claimed her son's life had been ruined by Peterson's actions and pleaded for her to be sent to prison for the maximum 10 years.
"He is no longer the funny, vibrant, light-hearted child we knew," she said. "He is now untrustworthy of new people and even old friends. He’s angry most days … He doesn’t understand his new personality but can’t find his old self either. And it’s absolutely heartbreaking. What she did to him has completely changed his life. My child is gone. His innocence was stolen at 14 years old."
