A North Dakota teacher has been accused of engaging in sexual acts with one of her pupils on school property.
Katie Michelle Erdahl, 33, a history teacher at Burke Central High School in Lignite, has been charged with having sexual contact with one of her male students earlier this year, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court.
On Monday, Dec. 6, Erdahl was charged in a Burke County district court with Class C felony corruption of a minor, a boy between the ages of 15 and 17. The charge stems from an investigation at the school after the boy told authorities of an inappropriate relationship between him and the teacher.
Erdahl Engaged in Oral Sex with the Student at Her Residence on School Property
Investigators were called in on Dec. 2 to the school after the student reported receiving oral sex from Erdahl in the early months of 2021, according to the affidavit.
The teacher told police that the sexual act took place at her residence, which is owned by the Burke Central School District and is on school property.The teacher has been with the school district since 2016 and was placed on administrative leave on Dec. 1, before she resigned on Tuesday.
Erdahl has been released on a $5,000 bail but if convicted of the charges against her, she could spend up to five years in prison. She is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 11. According to her Facebook profile, Erdahl graduated from Chadron State College in 2011 before becoming a teacher with the Whitewater Public Schools District in 2012.
The news comes days after a substitute teacher at at a high school in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was arrested for lewd conduct and inappropriate behaviour with a male student. According to WIS10 News, the teacher, Angela Bianca Hilton-Hecht, 44, grabbed the student, who is under the age of 16, by the waist, told him she loved him and "physically lifted her breast with both hands and placed it on the chest of the victim."