Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Teacher Tried to Sex Traffic Student with Boyfriend: Cops

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Elizabeth Love and her boyfriend, Jarid "Jack" Krause, are accused of trying to sex traffic a student. Love is a transition coordinator and teacher of the deaf at Education Service Unit 11 in southern Nebraska. Holdredge Police said the victim is a 16-year-old girl that Love had worked with for several years. Police said Love tried to buy the student's silence when she declined an invitation for sex. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the lurid allegations in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Mark Weaver https://x.com/MarkRWeaverProducer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A Nebraska high school teacher with the name Ms. Love is accused of trying to sex traffic, a female student, and then trying to make the girl take cash in exchange for her silence. But the brave team came forward. So now the educator and her boyfriend are facing charges. I'm breaking down the chilling details from court documents, including conversations between the alleged predators

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record searches by finding out what's available about yourself and those around you. Right now, you can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just go to www.com slash LC CrimeFix log on and start accessing information about almost anyone. A mother of two, who worked for a Nebraska school district for years, allegedly teamed up with her boyfriend to traffic a teenager for sex, 36-year-old Elizabeth Jamie Love, and 43-year-old. Jared Jack Krauss were arrested on Friday, October 24th. They each face one count of sex trafficking a minor. Love, known as Ms. Love, to her students, is also charged with one count of sexual grooming by a school employee. Police in Holdridge, a small city of only a few thousand

people in southern Nebraska, recently opened an investigation into the pair. A current high school student, only 16 years old, reported having inappropriate interactions with Love, who was one of her instructors. According to a local news outlet called Nebraska TV, Love worked as a transition coordinator and teacher of the deaf at Education Services Unit 11, also called ESU 11. As part of her job, Love often traveled to more than a dozen schools in South and Central Nebraska. People Magazine reviewed an arrest affidavit filed with the courts, which indicates Holdridge police were first alerted that there could be a case of sexual abuse back on October 14th. The teen did a forensic interview with police where she explained she had worked closely with love since

she was a seventh grader. The affidavit reportedly states that they had, quote, developed a close relationship which has evolved into talking about things going on in her life beyond the normal scope of a speech therapist slash educator. The girl reportedly told police that she communicated with love not only in person, but also via text, Facebook messenger, and non-school email addresses. Crouse was Love's boyfriend. The student told police that back in August, she was in Love's car, and Love was on the phone with Krause. Krause allegedly said during that conversation that he wanted to have sex with love. The teen said Love later told her that she would be willing to share Krause with her.

Apparently, at the time, the girl was supposed to be going to the state fair with love, but told police she was so uncomfortable with the sexual tone of the conversation that she called her aunt to pick her up. alleged incident reportedly happened in October. The arrest affidavit says that Love picked the girl up from her home and they went back to the educator's house. The teen reported that Kraus was there and he led her to an upstairs bedroom where he made a request that she believed was for sex. The girl said she declined and asked to leave. The 16 year old apparently started walking home and police were able to confirm through security cameras that Love was following her in her car. Eventually, the girl got in the car with Love who took her the rest of the way home.

The girl told police that Love apologized to her, and after telling her not to tell anybody about what happened, gave her $100 in $20 increments. Love would allegedly later tell law enforcement during an interview that this was not hush money, but instead meant as a gift to go toward the purchase of a new cell phone. The girl's story was supported by phone records. Police were able to get their hands on, which according to the affidavit showed Love and Krause have been talking about the student as early as April, apparently coming up with a plan to proposition her for sex to, quote, see if she was feeling it. The two reportedly discussed coming up with a code phrase to help Love know if she's interested or not. But in a sickening twist, one of the conversations referenced in the affidavit shows Love telling Kraus that while she

hopes their proposition works out, quote, if she doesn't want to, then I'll keep looking. And if that's not horrifying enough, love and Krause also allegedly discussed using the foster care system to find their person. The affidavit reportedly states, we'll find the girl that appreciates us for what we are and provide, someone who sees the value of our family and one that loves us both more than anything. Krause allegedly said that starting the paperwork for foster was a huge risk because they might not find the right girl. Holdridge police are concerned that there could be other people out there who've had concerning interactions with Krauss and or love, and they're asking those people to come forward with any information.

So to discuss this incredibly disturbing case, I'm just horrified by this. I need to bring in somebody who has some experience prosecuting teachers for sex crimes. And he is Mark Weaver. He works as a prosecutor in the state of Ohio. Also works as a judge. Mark, I am flabbergasted by everything I'm reading about this case.

case, the allegations in this case. We have a kid who's being taken advantage of by a teacher who is supposed to protect her and then the teacher's boyfriend. I need to know your first 40,000 foot view of this case, your reaction to this case, and then we'll dive a little deeper into it. My first reaction was why was a late 30s teacher having private texts with a special education student and driving her places in her car? And that parents, need to know when their students are talking to teachers. Most teachers are not abusers. Most teachers are not groomers.

But more and more, we're seeing instances like this, where a teacher is using the special power that a teacher has over a student, much less a special needs student, to be able to get them to do things for them. And this is a true perversion of what should be a mentoring relationship. It's definitely the allegation is that there is a perversion here. of what should be a mentoring relationship.

You know, we have allegations that there was, you know, money paid, things of that nature. We've got a boyfriend being brought into the mix here. I just am actually, I'm like just disgusted. It makes me wonder how more, how prevalent this might actually be stuff like this. I mean, obviously, I'm glad the police got involved, but how prevalent is this type of thing? It's become too prevalent. And that's largely because the ability of students and teachers to interact outside of the classroom has drawn dramatically, dramatically because of texting, because of social media. It's another reminder for parents. It's simply not appropriate for your young teen to have a relationship or even a conversation outside of the classroom with a student unless the parents are fully aware of it. There are times, of course, when a teacher can be a cheerleader and help you with your college applications. And on occasion, maybe even show up at a soccer game or a field hockey game to cheer you on, hopefully in full view and cooperation with the parents.

So if a teacher wants to come and stand next to the parents, while they cheer for that student to win the track championship, that's a perfectly fine outside of the classroom encounter. But these private encounters over social media and techs, these are grooming behaviors. And now we see, in this case, a very serious step beyond, un-grooming towards trying to traffic this young woman for sex. So there is such a thing as a teacher wanting to be maybe just a little too involved. Well, sure.

Let's remember that we all like it to have our kids be around good guys, good gals, good mentors, good encouragers. But there is something known as the good guy sex offender who doesn't, you know, skulk around in the bushes with a trench coat and look all creepy. It's people who otherwise help the student, extra help on the homework, writing great letters or recommendation, encouraging the student to do better, but then secretly also trying to act out sexually against the student. So not every sex offender of a teacher versus a student is somebody who comes off as a creep. Often it's somebody who's otherwise encouraging to a student.

Yeah, and I, you know, that's the thing that gets me here. And I'm just kind of like, you know, that's what parents need to recognize. And maybe parents aren't as involved with their kids in some instances as they should be. But when when somebody's maybe just a little too helpful, I think that can be a major red flag, along with wanting to communicate with the student via text. I mean, I don't see any reason why they should be communicating by a text at all. Like the teacher can communicate with the parents via email and text and things like that. But the child, no way, no dice.

That's exactly right. If a teacher has, my mother was a teacher and then a principal and I'm a big believer in great teachers making great outcomes and great differences. in people's lives. But great teachers know that the parent is the most important teacher in that child's life. So if I were a middle school or high school teacher and I was worried about a student and wanted to help that student with some extra tutoring, I would work through the parent. I would say, I think Johnny or Elizabeth, I think they need some extra help. And I'm willing to do that in my classroom at 315. If you want to come by and work with us, that's great. But be aware, I'll be in the classroom. The door will be open and we'll be going through some extra math problems.

That's very appropriate. And we welcome teachers to do that sort of thing. But the notion of off-school property, out of the eyes of parents, these are red flags. As you mentioned, I prosecuted teachers and others who've taken advantage of students and children. And nearly every time, there's some little unspoken or sometimes spoken deal with don't tell your parents. No one else needs to know about this. Your parents don't understand. that you're a sexual person. I understand that about you. And a 14, 15, 16-year-old child, which is what this girl was, who already has some form of disability, does not have the maturity to be able to confront and understand what's happening.

And I don't think that there's ever a reason why a student should be going to a teacher's house. I don't really care what the circumstances are. that just seems like bad news. I just don't see, you know, I remember when I was a senior in high school, I think our our pre-calculus teacher had a gathering for the whole class at the end of the school year. But by that time, we were like, you know, 18 years old. And it was like the whole class was there, not just one student. You know what I mean?

Like, and that way, there's no reason for one student or two students to go to a teacher's house. That just seems like major boundary issues. That's exactly right. Whenever there's a possibility of abuse, like with one or two students, that's another red flag. Too many teachers, again, not most, but too many teachers want to be the cool teacher, just like too many parents want to be the cool parents. So the cool teacher will let you drink at their house or the cool teacher will swear in front of you to show that they're cool or maybe even talk about a movie that's kind of risque with you because they're the cool teacher. And what they're doing is they're forgetting that this is not a friendship. This is not a lifelong relationship. This is a period of time when

you're in a young person's life. In this case, you're a taxpayer-paid employee. And you're doing the work of government. And you should do that work as well as you can, encourage the students in a proper way, and then move on to the next class. What I think is so the good thing about this case is that this girl, this student, she, she kind of felt the ick factor here. You know, she tells her aunt, you know, she was uncomfortable with some of the stuff going on here, the sexual nature of the conversation. She called her aunt to pick her up with this trip to the state fair. There were some other things.

And so I feel like, thank goodness, this student realized this is not, this is not cool. Like, this is creepy beyond belief. I'm hoping that the parents immediately came around that child and said, we are so proud of you for speaking up. We are sorry if we ever did anything that allowed you to move into the situation, but you did the right thing. We always want to give our children encouragement when they do the right thing. And in this case, as you mentioned,

talking about how uncomfortable she felt was the right thing to do. Now, I know we haven't talked about it, Ingenet, but I looked at the Nebraska law in this case. There is a possibility of a trafficking charge for these two people that has a 20-year minimum prison sentence. I love prosecuting cases where I have leverage against the defendant, and sometimes I have a lot of leverage, sometimes I don't have much leverage. That is a ton of leverage to force a guilty plea and to force a significant prison sentence, less than 20 years. 20 years feels a little much, but they have that leverage there. And right now, that couple is in a world of hurt.

Yeah, it definitely sounds like it. And then there was talk about possibly using, you know, the foster system. You know, the foster care system is a way to, like, troll for victims. That's really sick in this case, too. Yeah. When I read that, I really was creeped out. It takes a lot to make a veteran prosecutor get creeped out. But what it's apparently is happening from the facts we know, everything comes out in court. But what we know right now is they were so desperate to have a young. child in a threesome with this couple. Not only was she trolling and grooming in school, they were getting the paperwork to bring a foster child in, meaning a child who's already had a very difficult life and a very unstable home environment, purely for the purposes of sexual gratification. And some of the text messages suggest that they were shopping to get the right looking one, and maybe more than one, simply to comply with their sexual urges. What a perversion of the foster system, which is there as a safety net for the most vulnerable students among us.

Most definitely. And that's, that is some scary stuff. I mean, that's pretty, you know, that is an allegation being made of some pretty diabolical thinking, some pretty calculated thinking about abusing a system, as you just mentioned, that's meant to protect kids who are vulnerable. And you want to use it as a so-called hunting ground. It's nasty. Wow. Mark, I think we need to keep a close eye on this one. Really, really scary stuff. And keep an eye on your kids and the kids in your lives. Let them know they can talk to you about anything.

That's always my number one thing. Keep that line of communication open with the kids. It's very important. Yes, open-ended questions around the dinner table every night, asking about all the things that happen in school and then listening for red flags. You and I are not parenting experts, but we're parents. And a lot of people are going to see this story. please use this as a reason to check in with your students.

Most definitely. Mark Weaver, thank you so much. Thank you. Love and Krause, they are being held in the Phelps County Jail on a $250,000 cash bond. Both of them are. The Holdridge PD says if they're convicted, the pair could face up to life in prison, plus life placement on the Nebraska sex offender registry. A really, really disturbing case, and we're glad that that girl is away from these people. We'll keep an eye on this for you. for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanel Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.