Law&Crime Sidebar - Newlywed Ex-Teacher Admits to Sexually Abusing Three Students

Episode Date: February 4, 2024

Former Iowa middle school teacher Cassidy Kraus faces decades in prison after she entered a guilty plea to six sex crimes charges. Kraus admitted to using Snapchat to send lewd messages to students who were just 13 and 14 years old. Kraus faces up to 33 years behind bars at her sentencing hearing in March. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber examines the case with former prosecutor Florina Altshiler.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’ve suffered an injury and need legal support click www.attorneytom.com/Sidebar for a FREE consultation or dial 855-TOM-WINS.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY 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.

Wonderly Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will

keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A former middle school teacher enters a plea in her sex abuse case involving three different students in Iowa. We have the latest developments in Cassidy Krause's case and the punishment she's facing with trial attorney Lorena Altsheiler. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Fortunately, we got another one. Yeah, this time it is Cassidy Krause, a 24-year-old ex-teacher taught in the IKM Manning School District of Manning, Iowa, and she has just pled guilty to

sexually abusing minors. Let me tell you, what a roller coaster of a ride this has been over the last year. In July of 2023, Kraus got married, but just one month later, in August, reports came to light that she was engaging in inappropriate sex acts with minors who were just 13 and 14 years old. By September, her husband Zachary had filed to have the marriage dissolved by the courts. In October of 2023, Kraus was arrested in charge with one count of third-degree sexual abuse, two counts of lascivious acts with a child that included fondling or touching, and three counts of dissemination and exhibition of obscene material to minors. That brings us to January

24 when Krause entered a guilty plea to all six counts. The charges stem from incidents in 2022 and 2023 when the middle school reading teacher sent inappropriate messages to three minor-aged boys over Snapchat. That's where the dissemination of obscene material comes in. Krause admitted that in May of 2022, when she was 22 years old, she fondled a 13-year-old boy and touched her genitals to his body. Those are make up the other charges. And she admitted that in January of 2023, just months before her wedding,

she performed sex acts on a 14-year-old boy, which is why she was hit with that sexual abuse charge, more specifically. According to the IKM Manning School District, the school got a report that Krause had sent multiple sex photos to students. She was put on leave, but then resigned instead of being fired. The school board accepted her resignation. It's been reported that Krause had actually attended school

in that same district when she was growing up, then later came back to teach after attending Iowa State University. Now she could face up to 33 years in prison and she has a sentencing hearing set for March 11th in Carroll County, Iowa. Let's talk about this more with trial attorney, Florina Paul Schuyler.

And Florina joins us actually in studio, one of the first, I think we've had maybe one other guests in the studio, but good to see you, Florena. Great to be here. Thank you for having me. What do you think about this case? Let's start there real quick.

Terrible, awful, an obvious example of somebody abusing the authority that was vested in them. Yeah, and unfortunately, we've been covering these cases a lot. I want to talk about the punishment. So the sexual abuse count and the lascivious acts, I hopefully am saying that right, with a child, they're all Class C felonies. My understanding is they each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison each. Then the dissemination of obscene materials, those are misdemeanors. sentence of one year each. My math is correct, and I like to think that it is, that's 33 years

in prison. You think she's going to get 33 years in prison? I highly doubt it, but what is different about this case is you have three different victims. And so that time can very well be added consecutively versus concurrently, because we're talking about three different individuals. I mean one sentence after the other as opposed to them serving together. Why do you think it won't be 33 years. I'm assuming that she does not have a prior criminal record. And since she is a teacher, so she's an employed person, no longer a teacher given these acts, generally the criminal justice system looks favorably on people without a criminal

history and with a job. So she abused that. She took advantage of that job. She obviously took advantage of that job. And that's why she should be serving a prison sentence. as a result. In theory, she should get

the maximum sentence. But I highly doubt if we look at past cases of similar situations, highly doubt she will. By the way, one of my favorite things about being a host

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Why did she plead guilty? I'm assuming the evidence was overwhelming against her and with social media. And with tech-tock messages and text messages, all of that now is documented. And these cases become very easy to prove. And just to be clear, she probably took a deal because she thought she would get less prison time. Will that be a consideration? Admitting responsibility and expressing remorse does go a long way to mitigate a potential sentence. But so crazy, she's living this double life after starting a new life with her husband.

That was one of the most disturbing aspects about it. But you mentioned the Snapchat, mentioned the social media. Snapchat in particular, I think, is really interesting because it's one of those platforms where you send a message and it disappears, right? And we've seen recently Snapchat has come not necessarily under fire, but there's been more of an eye to it because of that feature,

that criminal conduct, whether it's drug deals or something like this, that platform is being used to further criminal conduct. Any liability on the part of Snapchat here? There's certainly new litigation where social media platforms are being sued for either encouraging or facilitating criminal conduct, but that is new case law that is yet to be made. You know, we had the big case with Backpage of facilitating prostitution and sex trafficking. That was a big deal. There's social media platforms being sued now for the top shooter who killed 10 black people as a race incited act. So it's becoming a thing, but it's not yet established law where the social media platforms are being held civilly responsible for facilitating criminal acts.

I'm just going to say this, not even a legal point of view, but I think parents, they just have to be so careful with what their kids are doing on social media because I think that's where a lot of the – it used to be chat rooms, right? It used to be chat rooms, and now it's these kinds of social media platforms where you can be contacted by anybody. It just, it becomes very easy to be brave behind a screen. It's very easy to send sexual messages and exchange photos and ask and encourage minors to perform sex acts virtually. Can we talk about the school district for a second? I'm curious if they face any legal liability because it seems to me they did everything that they were supposed to do, right? So when they found out she was put on leave, they worked with law enforcement, they let her resign instead of firing her. I always ask this question, because everybody's always, how could she have been a teacher?

How could she have been around young people like this? Does the school district potentially face any liability? I think potentially they do have civil liability for negligence, negligence in hiring her, in retaining her, and in failing to properly supervise her. What's really important here is we have three separate child victims. So obviously, this is not the first and only time. and we have incidents going over a course of time. At some point, you would think somebody should have noticed

and should have intervened. Just a crazy, crazy story, very disturbing. But it is important to talk about. That doesn't change. And the truth is, we get to tell you these stories. We get to break them down for you because of the support that we get from our sponsors and partners here on Sidebar. They help make this show happen.

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ally who is committed to your well-being. So if you've suffered an injury and you need legal support, click the attorney tom.com slash sidebar link pinned in the comments for a free consultation or dial 855 Tom wins. I think we've covered a lot of these cases before you and I, unfortunately, and it makes me wonder why we're seeing so many of them today, right? Is it that the, perhaps it's a blessing and a curse with the social media platforms. It creates a record. Sometimes people can see these messages. Or is it that, you know, it's easier. So what I'm trying to say is it easier to detect this kind of conduct, you know, there's text messages, there's social media content, it creates a record, it creates a stronger case for prosecutors, or is it that something

else is going on? Like, has this always been happening or is this something else going on that we're seeing so many teachers and school administrators being accused, charged, pleading guilty to these kinds of crimes? What do you think? I think child sex abuse has unfortunately been a thing in society since there were children and there were adults. There's not something new where child sex abuse is just now a thing, but it's much easier to detect and much easier to prosecute with this digital footprint

that these perpetrators are leaving behind. I do think that it's becoming easier to groom children with social media contact by being able to communicate with them, send inappropriate messages, and encourage children to also be more sexually brave via social media, which then opens the door to physical context. And I know you're not a psychologist, but the fact that she was leading what would otherwise be a normal life. I've looked at pictures of her and her husband. You would never know this was going on.

You see that a lot, right? Somebody could living a completely sorted double life that their partner or their family doesn't know about. Yeah, look at the serial killer at a Long Island who killed over a dozen Allegedly. Allegedly. Evidence is strong there. Allegedly.

A lot of times what makes this so shocking and so horrific is these appear to be normal upstanding citizens in society who are living normal lives, but they're clearly not. Unbelievable. Florino, Altschiler, good to see you. Thanks for coming on. Thanks so much for having me. And everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us.

Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.