Twitter/Kelsie Koepke Koepke pictured on her Twitter page.
Kelsie Koepke, a teacher at Paetow High School in Katy, Texas, is accused of sending inappropriate videos to a 15-year-old student via Snapchat under the screen name “Momma K.” In court documents, a Katy police officer said one of the videos clearly shows Koepke’s face. Koepke, 25, also used the pseudonym “Kelsie_koepke” on social media.
Koepke told investigators that she thought that she was sending the materials to a man she had met on a dating site, not the teenager.
When she realized she was sending the materials to a student, Koepke said she kept in contact with him on social media in order to “keep the peace.”
Koepke, a resident of Katy, was issued a bond of $15,000 after being charged by the Harris County District Attorney’s office. Koepke is accused of transmitting sexually explicit materials to a minor. She will appear in court on May 7 after turning herself in to authorities on March 20. The suspect is the mother of a 6-year-old daughter who was born in April 2013. On the bio section of her now-deleted Instagram page, Koepke says her daughter “is my world! It’s me and you against the world baby! Hope you enjoy our life in pictures.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Despite Koepke Telling the Victim Not Save Their Conversations, Documents Say the Teen Saved a Video of His Teacher Masturbating
Harris County District AttorneyKoepke’s mugshot.
Koepke met her alleged victim at lunch at the Paetow High School testing center in October 2017, a few months after the school first opened, just before the school’s homecoming, charging documents say. Koepke had been in charge of his lunch period. The documents say the pair were chatting before Koepke is accused of sending videos of a sexual nature to the student. Documents in the case say that Koepke “instructed [the victim] not to save any of their chats.”
The description of the masturbating video reads in part, “The video then shows the screen scrolling up to the top of that conversation thread and one can see an icon/thumbnail of a video that was sent from “Momma K” dated, May 1, 2018. The icon/thumbnail depicts the fingers of a female’s right hand, whose nails are painted with pink fingernail polish, on her vagina and the middle finger of that hand is already partially inserted into the vagina. The icon/thumbnail is then selected and the video opens up full screen. What plays next is a self-taken video of a woman masturbating with her right hand, specifically, her middle finger. The woman then removes her finger from her vagina and brings it up to her mouth and begins to suck on it. One can clearly see the woman’s face in this video.”
2. The Inappropriate Relations Were First Sent on the Night of the School’s 2017 Homecoming, Cops Say
Instagram/Kelsie Koepke
On the night of Paetow’s homecoming event in October 2017, cops say that Koepke began sending videos and pictures of a sexual nature to the alleged victim, the documents in the case say. The sexual materials continued to be sent by Koepke, police said, until the student reported the teacher to school officials in February 2018.
The student said that Koepke apologized to the alleged victim the night after she initially sent inappropriate materials. Documents say that Koepke approached the teenager and said, “I can’t believe I did that.” Despite this, police say she continued to send images and video of a sexual nature. Those materials included “nude images of her breasts and two videos of herself masturbating,” according to the documents in the case.
3. In a Statement, Paetow’s Principal Said That Koepke Has Been Fired
Twitter/Paetow High School
In a statement to parents, Paetow’s principal, Mindy Dickerson, said that Koepke has been accused of “of improper relationship between a teacher and a student, a second-degree felony, as well as online solicitation of a minor, a third-degree felony.” Dickerson refers to Koepke as a “paraprofessional” in the statement. The principal goes on to say that as soon as the school’s learned what Koepke had been accused of, on February 28, she was terminated from her position.
According to Koepke’s now-deleted listing on Paetow High School’s website, she worked at the school in “In Class Support.”
4. Texas Leads the Way in Prosecuting Teachers Accused of Abusing Students
In November 2016, Texas State Representative Tony Dale sought to pass legislation that would prevent, as Dale says, teachers merely resigning and moving. Dale said of his legislation, “HB 218 increases penalties and close loopholes that allow educators who engage in inappropriate relationships to resign and obtain employment in another district. This bill seeks to allow Texas the tools we need to get rid of teachers who prey on our children.”
5. Female Educators Make Up a Small Fraction Teacher/Student Sexual Assault Convictions
Slate reported that female educators make up 4 percent of convicted rapists in teacher/student sexual assault cases in 2006. While in 2016, former Department of Education chief of staff, Terry Abbott, wrote in the Washington Post that teacher/student sexual assault cases were on the rise. For example, in Kentucky in 2011, the state saw the number of such cases nearly double.
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