A Pennsylvania high school counselor is accused of grooming a 14-year-old student and sexually assaulting her several times over the summer before police became involved.
Guidance counselor Kelly Ann Schutte, 35, is charged with institutional sexual assault and other crimes for inappropriate contact with the boy that began in the fall of 2022 and continued through this summer, according to court records and reports.
Police were first alerted to the alleged abuse in July when family members of Schutte — who works at Pennridge South Middle School — reported seeing them kissing inside her home, according to a criminal complaint obtained by NBC10-Philadelphia.
The relative, who witnessed the alleged kiss from outside, reportedly burst into the house and asked the teenager to leave, the student said.
The terrified teenager ran outside and hid behind a vehicle parked around the block and called his parents in a panic to be picked up, the local station reported.
The child later told her parents that she was in a romantic and sexual relationship with Schutte and her mother called police the next day on July 18, the complaint states.
Schutte allegedly groomed the boy and repeatedly sexually abused him over the course of the summer. Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
The high school student told investigators that he had sat next to his counselor on the school bus on the way home from a class trip in the fall of 2022.
After that, Schutte regularly called her into his office — often during class — and began sending messages through Canvas, the school district’s digital platform and messaging system, according to the document.
Once the school year ended, their conversations turned to Snapchat and their relationship turned physical with the student telling police she and Schutte had sex multiple times in June and July of this year.
Schutte allegedly assaulted the boy at his home in Pennsburg, at his home in Bucks County while his parents were away and in his car, according to the complaint.
Investigators found the counselor’s earrings at the student’s home and found messages between them and photos of them together on her phone.
They also obtained their message history from Canvas as well as handwritten notes confirming the boy’s account of their relationship, the document said.
Schutte is charged with three counts of institutional sexual assault – intercourse/sexual intercourse with a student, three counts of indecent assault on a person under the age of 16 and one count of bribery of a minor.
He was arraigned Friday and posted $25,000 unsecured bail, according to NBC10.
The counselor was placed on administrative leave in July pending the outcome of her case and has been prohibited from entering school district premises or having any contact with students and staff within the Pennridge School District.
“While we refrain from prejudging the actions of staff facing prosecution, it is important to reiterate the district’s position on any inappropriate contact between Pennridge School District employees and students,” the district said in a statement Friday. “Such behavior will NOT be tolerated.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
