Twitter Lucas Talley
Lucas Sloan Talley is a 38-year-old former middle school teacher in Riverton, Utah, who is accused of putting a student in a plastic bin so he could spirit her into his classroom and have inappropriate contact with her. Police say he stuck a label inside the bin that read, “hope your box is comfortable.”
According to Local 12, the allegations come from police probable cause statements.
The allegations came to light over the Thanksgiving weekend that Talley, a teacher at South Hills Middle School, was “having inappropriate conversations and relations with multiple teenaged students.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Talley Is Accused of Naming the Bin After the Student
The charges, including felony kidnapping, deal with Talley’s interactions with a 14 year old student. According to KJZZ-TV, Talley told police he “does not feel a girl [her age] is able to consent or even choose to be put into a bin and wheeled into his classroom.”
According to Fox13, Talley talked to the teenage girl about his “marriage, anxiety, and depression,” and gave her gifts. Her mother asked him to stop communicating with the girl, but he kept doing it.
At one point, with the school closed due to the pandemic, Talley “told the student to get into a large Sterilite bin, which he then placed on a dolly and transported to his classroom,” Fox13 reported, adding that he “named the bin after the student” and put a label inside it that read, “hope your box is comfortable.”
He’s accused of telling the teenager he loved her and inappropriately touching her, the television station reported. KJZZ reported that the inappropriate touching involved the teacher having “touched her inner thigh and rubbing her leg,” which made the girl scared and uncomfortable.
A police affidavit alleged that Talley “had personal contact via text message and email with multiple young girls. Much of this contact has been of a personal nature and not school related,” according to Desert News.
Talley Was a Teacher at the School for 12 Years Who Needed ‘Validation’ From Students, Police Say
Local 12 reported that Talley was a teacher at the middle school for 12 years. He is also married with four children.
According to Deseret News, Talley explained his motive to authorities, a police affidavit revealed.
“Lucas told detectives he has realized he needs the validation from these female students for his ego and thrives on it. Lucas said when the school shut down due to the pandemic, he really struggled with not having this validation, so began talking with this female victim daily Monday through Friday,” the affidavit states, according to Deseret News. It alleged that he told police that he “knew he was overstepping his teacher role but his interactions with the female victim were a type of therapy for him.”
Fox 13 reported that the teacher also told authorities that he has anxiety and panic attacks. Talley resigned from his teaching position at the school after the allegations became known. KJZZ reported that police believe he may have suicidal tendencies and that other parents had asked him to stop contacting their children in the past.
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