Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Two Female Teachers Tried to Set Up Foursome With Student: Document

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Two high school teachers from Wisconsin have resigned after they allegedly admitted to sending photos and Snapchat messages to a student discussing cuddling, drinking, and fun on a school trip. Alexsia Saldaris and Jennifer Larson were placed on administrative leave in April and resigned after the district investigated. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy details what the School District of Janesville's investigation found in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you experienced adverse side effects after taking Ozempic or another weight loss medication, check your eligibility to file a claim by visiting https://www.glp1case.com/crimefix?v=ocf12Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Michelle SnodgrassCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest 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 Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Two teachers from Wisconsin are out of a job and they could face criminal charges after they're accused of messaging a student to arrange a foursome. I have the details of what the teachers are accused of doing on a school trip. I'm Anjanette Levy and this is Crime Fix. Alexia Saldaras and Jennifer Larson were teachers at Joseph Craig High School in Janesville,

Wisconsin until the spring. The school district of Janesville launched an investigation of the two teachers in April. Records released by the district show that Saldaras and Larson attended a state DECA trip with students in February. No big deal. That's what teachers do. They go on school trips with students. They supervise. But what happened in early April is what resulted in them being placed on leave. Between April 7th and April 9th, on another trip, the records show that Larson and Saldaras were Snapchatting with a student identified

only as student A, saying they would like to cuddle and have fun. They're also quoted as asking whether another student would want to come with them. The investigative document says Saldariz gave the keys to a school van to student A so he could get his clothes out of it and then allowed him to take a lap in the parking lot in the van. Then the document says Saldariz and the student exchanged a quote, half kiss, and she was changing her shoes by the van that day. On the evening of April 9th, the investigative document says that Saldarriz sent student

A five photos of herself in lingerie and undergarments. There were texts where the two discussed plans to meet that weekend. Then the next morning on April 10th, the other teacher, Jennifer Larson, reported to superiors that Alexia Saldariz allowed student A to drive a school van. Then Saldariz texted student A that their relationship, that's what she called it, their relationship needed to stop and student A agreed. This is a law and crime legal alert. Have you experienced severe gastroparesis or other side effects after taking Ozempic or another GLP-1 weight loss

medication? The Ozempic lawsuits claim that the drug can lead to severe intestinal blockage and persistent vomiting, and that manufacturers allegedly failed to provide adequate warning about these risks. True Law, one of our legal sponsors, is helping those injured file a claim through an experienced attorney who helps ensure your claim is thoroughly presented. Visit www.glp1case.com slash crime fix to answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim. The following day on April 11th, a teacher told the principal of Craig High School that she saw a group of students crowded around a phone giggling. The teacher believes she saw a photo

of Alexia Saldariz in undergarments. The teacher tells the principal and the assistant district superintendent that she is 95% sure it was Alexia Saldarez in the photos. That's when the district places Saldarez on administrative leave. What happens next is redacted. It's blacked out in the investigative summary. This could relate to what the student told district officials. That evening, Jennifer Larson is also placed on administrative leave. Six days later, on April 17th, district officials interview Jennifer Larson is also placed on administrative leave. Six days later, on April 17th, district officials interview Jennifer Larson, and she admits to the snaps discussing cuddling, flirting, and implying that alcohol would be involved in a possible meeting with a student.

The assistant superintendent also confronted Larson about having a prior inappropriate relationship with a former student. Larson, according to the documents, admitted to starting a rumor about a current male student's former girlfriend. She said she didn't believe the girl was good enough for the student. Wow. On April 19th, the assistant superintendent met with both Larson and Saldariz separately and told them it was being recommended that they resign and that their contracts would

not be renewed. Both Salderas and Larson resigned. So the school district says that they've turned this matter over to the Janesville Police Department, which is investigating. So what kind of crime could exist here? Because from what I'm looking at, I'm not seeing one. I thought we should bring in an expert in prosecuting crimes to discuss this. She is Michelle Snodgrass. She is the Commonwealth's attorney for Campbell County, Kentucky. She's been prosecuting felony cases for 24 years. So Michelle, thanks for coming on. You've seen it all, doing this for 24 years. Are you seeing a crime in the documents that we have here in front of us right now? Well, right now, the documents that they gave us don't tell us a whole lot.

What we always look at as prosecutors is what is contained in the messages that could tell us there's more out there. And one of the things that stands out most to me is the message that said, we need to end our relationship. A relationship does not start over five text messages of a woman in lingerie. So that tells me there's more. When you look at the history between these two, there was a class trip that they were on with the students in February. So what happened between February and April? That is what is going to tell the police what they need to be looking at.

And I think you make a really good point there. This is at April 10th of 2024. It's in the morning, and it's after Jennifer Larson apparently reported to the principal that Alexia Salderas had allowed the students to drive around the parking lot in the district van doing the loop, as they said. And Alexia says to student A that the relationship needs to stop and that student A agrees. So you're right. There was a period of time there in which something could have transpired. We just don't know what that was. And then we get to farther down in the documents and there's a lot of stuff redacted. It's blacked out. I look at that and I'm thinking to myself, they had to have gone to the student.

I'm assuming they went to the student and his parents and said, hey, what was going on here? So is that redacted because that might be part of a criminal investigation? It may be something that a minor has relayed to them? Absolutely. So as prosecutors, law enforcement, we do everything we can to protect children because we got to remember these are minor children. And so you have to treat them in a different way. You might take them to a children's advocacy center to be interviewed as opposed to being interviewed by the police. If they disclosed information either through themselves or through their parents, the school district is going to redact that for their protection. And I think that's important to say that there is more that

we don't know about that the police are privy to. And that is what is leading them in their investigation and the prosecutors as well. That's what's telling them whether or not criminal activity occurred. And at this point, I have to assume that there is more. We have a teacher talking to a student saying, let's meet up over the weekend. That means that there was more contact with them. Yeah, we're talking about cuddling, possible alcohol use, all kinds of stuff. And there was a half kiss shared, apparently, with student A and Alexia Saldarez. So that right there, I don't know if that could constitute anything, but teachers should not be doing half kisses with students. It's just not appropriate. It definitely crosses the line.

You have to remember that there's a grooming process, right? These adults try to find which children might be susceptible. They start the grooming process. It starts with a little laugh. It starts with maybe a pat on the back, a touch here and there to see how it is that they're going to react to that contact. And that grooming process does take some time. Is that what was happening the past couple of months until we got to April? And quite frankly, for the life of me, I'm not quite sure what a half kiss is anyway. Either you kiss somebody or you don't kiss somebody. So that to me is the minimization that always comes along with somebody who's got a little bit of a guilty conscience. So it was just a half kiss. It wasn't anything much more than that.

But that could constitute under certain laws and certain states and everybody has their own definition, but that could constitute some type of inappropriate sexual contact depending upon the scenario and the other facts. in a relationship or a physical situation with somebody who is in a position of special trust, a teacher, a coach, a foster parent, a big brother, big sister, that puts them into a different category that holds them to a higher standard. Yeah, most definitely because you are entrusted. I mean, it's public trust. She's paid by the taxpayers. She's an authority figure. She's supposed to be teaching and, you know, caring in a professional. April 17th. Mr. Garner interviews J.L. This is Jennifer Larson. J.L. confirms it admits to snaps involving cuddling, flirting and the implication of alcohol in the meeting because, you know, the whole allegation here is that they were trying to set up some sort of foursome additionally mr garner questions jl about previous allegations of having a relationship with a former student there's your keyword there again michelle relationship with a former student and then starting a false rumor about one of jl's current students at the time girlfriend the girl was a student of jl's jail admitted she started the false rumor because jl girlfriend the girl was a student of jl's jl admitted she started the false rumor because jl believed the girl was not good enough for the male student what on earth okay so we have

the relationship part right there so if you're a police officer law enforcement uh person are you gonna go back and talk to this student where she allegedly had a relationship? Because that, again, does not just sound like Snapchatting. That sounds like more than that. Well, yeah. And to start off with, I would say that this sounds so high school. You would expect this from high school students. But instead, you're dealing with teachers. And that is probably the most disturbing. They are acting like they are the students. But there is a relationship. We're talking about alcohol being involved. We're talking about bringing in other students. This is not something that just occurred over a two-day time period. And I think that's where the focus needs to be. What has happened over this period of time? What have they been doing? What has their communication been? Snapchat is so horrible for law enforcement because lots of times those messages, the images, they can go away. So we hope that we're gonna be able

to get an electronic trail of what was going on between these teachers and these students. But yes, they should be talking to everybody. And quite frankly, I think it was this student or this teacher that has been there for almost a decade it's probably time to start talking to former students of hers as well yeah Jennifer Larson um had been there for quite some time and then Alexia Alexia salderas had been there for a year so it is very juvenile the fact that a teacher, an authority figure, would start a rumor about the girlfriend of another student because you didn't think she was good enough.

I mean, this is very high school. It makes you think, how do these people even get the job? They must be really good at putting on a show and getting the interview and doing the interview. And then they get into this environment, and this allegedly happens according to the documents. It's stunning to me because we've covered so many cases recently, Michelle, just in the last six months or so of female teachers, you know, accused of things like this. Have you seen a lot of female teachers? I mean, we were hearing about men for so long, and now it just seems like more and more we're hearing about men for so long, and now it just seems like more and more

we're hearing about female teachers who are accused of these types of things. Well, the last case I had with us did involve a female teacher. In fact, the last two. And that is what we are seeing nowadays. We are seeing, and a lot of them are younger. However, I've also prosecuted a female teacher who was a mother, who was married, who had two children of her own. But for some reason there has been a switch. There has been females that are the ones that are becoming the perpetrators. And we can't look at them any differently than we would a male teacher. These are perpetrators and they are finding those students that maybe want attention, who need attention, who are seeking them out as well. and they are finding those students that maybe want attention, who need

attention, who are seeking them out as well. And they are putting up no boundaries. In fact, they are knocking down all the boundaries. And they are the ones that essentially from looking at these messages are probably pursuing them. Well, at this point in time, these teachers are not charged with a crime. I should make that clear. But the Janesville Police Department is investigating. And whether or not anything comes of that remains to be seen. But these teachers have resigned their positions. And the Janesville School District made it clear to me that as soon as they found out about this, they placed these teachers on leave. They did their investigation. They contacted law enforcement. And they've been working side by side with them since this began. So it looks like they did everything right, but

it'll be interesting to see if anything more comes of it. Michelle Snodgrass, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.