Oliver Fell, Manatee, Florida teacher at Haile Middle School arrested for sending nude photo to 14 year old boy and soliciting or engaging in sexual or romantic relationship with student.
A Manatee, Florida, teacher has been accused of sending an ‘explicit’ nude photo of herself along with engaging in sexual activity with a middle school student.
Oliver Fell, 28, following her arrest on Monday faced charges of lewd conduct with a student by an authority figure and transmission of harmful material to a minor, according to a news release from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). That lewd conduct is further defined as soliciting or engaging in a romantic relationship with a student.
Oliver Fell, Manatee middle school teacher pursues ‘romantic relationship’ with 14 year old boy
Authorities said that they first learned of Fell’s alleged offenses on March 3, when a 14 year old middle school student told a school resource deputy at Carlos E. Haile Middle School that Fell had allegedly been communicating with him on social media for over three months.
That student also alleged that Fell sent him an ‘explicit photo’ on Snapchat in early January, according to the release. The allegations were reported to the school district and the MCSO Crimes Against Children Unit, sparking an investigation into the student’s claims.
During the investigation, detectives were able to confirm the student’s allegations, according to the release, and after obtaining a search warrant for his phone, they allegedly found evidence that the communications between Fell and the student led to lewd conduct, FOX13 reported.
Those detectives also said that an ‘explicit photo of a nude breast’ found on the boy’s phone ‘belonged to the teacher,’ according to the release. The release also said that additional information obtained in early May helped strengthen the case, though no further details were provided by the MCSO.
Abuse of position of trust, authority and power
On June 2, an arrest warrant was issued and Fell turned herself in later that day. She remains in custody at the Manatee County Jail and was granted a $20,000 bond on condition she have no contact with the student victim, 10 Tampa Bay reported.
The principal at Carlos E. Haile Middle School, Irene Nikitopoulos, spoke out about the charges in a letter addressed to parents on Monday.
She wrote that it ‘took several weeks of investigation to confirm the allegations of the illegal communications’ and said that ‘once law enforcement had sufficient confirmation, our school and district were informed and Ms. Fell was immediately reassigned to a position away from our school where she had no contact with students.’
She also said the school and the district would fully cooperate with the investigation, which is ongoing.
Not immediately clear is what led to the female teacher abusing her position of trust, authority and power and subjugating her teen male victim.
