A newlywed Iowa school teacher has admitted sexually abusing students as young as 13
Cassidy Kraus, 24, a teacher at IKM Manning School, is facing up to 33 years in prison after already losing her job and short-lived marriage.
She got married in July 2023 but her new husband Zachary filed for divorce on August 28 when the abuse against at least three boys first emerged, according to Fox News.
Three days before the divorce filing, the teacher tendered her resignation to avoid getting fired, school officials said.
She pleaded guilty Monday, Jan. 29, to one count of third-degree sexual abuse, two counts of lascivious acts with a child and three counts of dissemination and exhibition of obscene materials to minors, KTIV reported.
The charges were for sexually abusing and sending obscene Snapchat messages to at least three boys between the ages of 13 and 14.
Kraus “knowingly disseminat[ed] obscene material” via Snapchat to one boy between January and May 2022, and to the two others between January and June 2023 — the latter just before her marriage, Law&Crime reported, citing a Carroll County criminal complaint.
She committed lascivious acts against a 13-year-old in May 2022 by “fondling or touching” him, according to the complaint, which noted that she was a “mandatory reporter of child abuse as a teacher employed by the IKM-Manning Community School District.”
Kraus also had sexually abused a 14-year-old boy by “performing sex acts” between Jan. 17 and Jan. 31, 2023, officials said.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11, when she faces a maximum of 33 years in prison, KTIV said.
Kraus made the dean’s list at Iowa State University several times for “outstanding academic achievement” in her elementary education coursework, Law&Crime reported.
