Law&Crime Sidebar - School Principal Let 'Predator' Teachers Prey on Students: Report

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

As at least two St. Helens High School teachers face charges for alleged sexual misconduct with their students, the school’s principal has also been criminally charged. Dr. Katy Wagner is accused of knowing about reports of abuse and not taking action. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber sits down with Chris Hansen, renowned predator catcher and founder of TruBlu, to discuss the growing number of administrators caught up in the investigation.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/bf10 and get a $10 bonus on your first purchase, this is a Black Friday special, one time only, $10 cash back bonus on your first purchase!HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest 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.

Wonderry 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. St. Helens High School principal, Katie Wagner, was arrested this morning. And the irony of this is that if she hadn't written this letter, this never would have happened. Viral TikTok videos from a former high school student sparked a bombshell investigation that ultimately led to the arrest of alleged predator teachers. And now the principal of that high school is facing felony charges for reportedly turning a blind eye to it all. I'm going to talk with renowned predator catcher Chris Hansen as we dive into this latest development in the story. Welcome to Sidebar.

Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, we have to talk about the fact that a principal of an Oregon high school has just been indicted by a grand jury after being accused of failing to protect her students from alleged. predators. We're talking about Katie Wagner, the principal of St. Helen's High School, now facing multiple criminal charges stemming from her alleged role in allowing the abuse to continue essentially unchecked, even after school officials were made aware of the allegations. Now, if you say this, why does this sound familiar? It's because we first told you about this story here on Sidebar just a couple of weeks ago. Two former teachers at the school were arrested.

46-year-old Eric Stern, 64-year-old Mark Collins, they were arrested for allegedly sexually abusing students, and it was all sparked by a series of TikTok videos that were uploaded by a former St. Helens High School student, Doug Weaver. I made a video about some of my experiences at this high school 20 years ago, and I talked about how this school has a history of protecting predators. And when that happened, I had so many people send me messages about this guy. And I'm a mandated reporter. If you tell me about the abuse of a minor, I'm going to report it.

So I did. And the next day, I got a call back from detectives Edwards and Smith. And they asked me not to post about Stearns until they finish. finished their investigation. And then soon after, Weaver got an influx of messages pointing the finger at Stearns and Collins, who were both arrested after a major investigation. On November 12th, both Stearns and Collins were arrested on multiple charges of sexual abuse. Stearns was charged with abusing six girls between 2015 and 2024.

Collins is accused of abusing three students from 2017 to 2023. And in Doug Weaver's TikTok videos, he actually revealed that the principal we're talking about, Katie Wagner criticized him for bringing up what she referred to as past issues regarding these two teachers. And remember, this was before they were arrested. When I made that first video, the principal of this high school criticized me for revisiting past issues that have been addressed. But clearly, the predatory behavior of teachers at this school district has not been addressed. And she said that they take the safety of students very seriously and investigate all allegations brought to their attention. I don't believe that

because I have reason to believe that a lot of these allegations had been brought to her attention and that she did not investigate them. And it turns out, from what we know in this recent indictment, Weaver might be right. Wagner's indictment, which was filed last week, alleges that Wagner's actions, or maybe I should say lack thereof, created a situation where vulnerable students were at risk of sexual harm, a violation of her duty as an educator and administrator. And the charges against Wagner alleged she, quote, unlawfully and knowingly withheld necessary and adequate physical care from her students by failing

to report the abuse, and that is required by Oregon state law. Now, the indictment also states that she, quote, consciously disregarded the fact that the violation created a risk of the commission of a sex crime against a vulnerable person. Hey, so I want to quickly thank Upside for sponsoring this episode of Sidebar. They help us to bring the story to you. And here's the kicker. They still have a special Black Friday promotion going on. And Upside's great if you don't know what it is.

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Here's the Black Friday kicker I mentioned. If you download upside right now by clicking the link in the description and use code BF10, you get a $10 bonus on your first purchase. This is a Black Friday special, one time only, $10 cashback bonus on your first purchase with our special code BF10. Okay, but back to this. So right now, Wagner is charged with two felony counts of first degree criminal mischief, two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct in the first degree, and two additional misdemeanor charges of official misconduct in the second degree. She entered a not guilty plea last week after she turned herself in. was set at $55,000, and as part of her release conditions, she's not allowed to have any contact

with Stearns and Collins. And she also can't have any contact with the alleged victims in this case or their families. By the way, she's also not allowed to be employed in an education setting or any sort of job where she's required to be a mandatory reporter. She's due back in court in January. There's a lot to break down here. And to do that, I want to bring back in friend of the show renowned predator catcher, Chris Hanson, host of Take Down on True Blue and Predators I've caught with Chris Hansen. Chris, oh good to see you again. Before we got started, you actually anticipated my first question to you, have you ever seen a principal being held criminally responsible? No, I have not, but I also have never seen a principal who let this slide for so many years, despite the complaints, categorizing this as past incidents?

I mean, come on. These were verifiable complaints, and it didn't get acted upon until, you know, some of the victims and the parents started squawking on social media on TikTok. law enforcement, when it found out, seems to have proceeded diligently and done the right thing. But where was this principle? This is a job where you are entrusted with the safety and security of all of the students. And if you know, and refer to this as past incidents, come on. I think this is a landmark case. I think it's exactly what the authorities and Oregon should have done, and it will set an example and get people's attention to never let this happen again. But the fact that I've never seen this before, this sort of prosecution, also speaks to the fact that I've never seen a case like this, where a principal let this slide for so long. So that's just as surprising or as unique, rather, as the prosecution itself.

This might be the first time I've seen criminal charges against a principal like this, not the first time that I've seen a school district being held responsible. And it makes me wonder, what could be the explanation? Why taking the allegations is true? Why would she not report it? Oh, you know, I didn't think it was happening. Oh, I was trying to protect. maybe the alleged predators here? What explanations would make sense? To me, what makes sense is complacency. I don't see any evidence here that there was a conspiracy

with the teachers facing these allegations or there was any kind of a cabal that involved the principal. What I do think could have happened is that these two teachers had been engaging in this behavior for a decade and maybe had a way of intimidating the principal, who might have younger than them, might have been able to convince her that, oh, this is, these are bad actors, these students are just trying to get us. Something happened there. But I don't see, you know, a conspiracy where she was actively taking part in the sexual exploitation of students. I see complacency. I see not being aware of the situation and not taking these allegations seriously enough. You know what's really bad for her? Apparently, a former assistant principal at the school,

who's not there anymore, testified in front of the grand jury. What do you think, the former assistant principal had to say? Well, I would have to guess, and, you know, an educated guess would be that they saw something firsthand. That's why you're brought in front of the grand jury, as you know. And there must have been something that was important that that assistant principal saw that, you know, led to the criminal charges against the principal. I mean, that assistant principal would have had a front row of view of exactly what was going on. was only her and then a detective who testified in front of the grand jury. You don't need a full

case. You only need. But I mean, that's pretty significant to get these charges. And Chris, I want to come back to you about what should have been done, but just give everybody kind of an idea of what we're talking about. The arrests of Stearns and Collins ignited outrage among students, parents, members of the St. Helen's community, many of whom felt betrayed by the school's administration for allegedly ignoring or covering up this abuse. Wagner and St. Helen's school district superintendent Scott Stockwell. They were originally placed on administrative leave on November 15th pending further investigation. And what you had was frustrated in parents who spoke at a board meeting held earlier this month and they didn't hold back.

Families do not give us their students. They do not give us their children. They give us their babies. It is a sacred trust and we have a moral obligation to honor it with reverence. that trust has been broken. The district has significant work ahead to repair relationships and rebuild trust. And according to multiple students, they had reported Stearns and Collins to school officials as early as 2019, but their concerns were dismissed. Speaking at a school board meeting earlier this month, one student, now 17, said that Stearns had expressed inappropriate affection towards her when she was just 14 years old.

As a vulnerable 14-year-old girl, I didn't know. didn't find that it was weird that he'd hug me, kiss me on the head and tell me that he loves him. And she said that when her mother complained to principal Wagner, the principal used to take action, even though the teacher's behavior made her uncomfortable. My mom specifically made complaints about Mr. Stearns putting his hand around my neck as a vocal exercise. That too, what swept under the other other. Other students also shared stories of how they were allegedly targeted by Stearns and Collins. Many claimed that when they reported the misconduct to Wagner,

complaints were either ignored or minimized. Another student questioned how such abuse could have gone on for so long. Why haven't done anything to protect our kids? It's like me. People like me who go to the high school don't want to be around pedophiles. And parents also came forward to voice their dismay at the district's handling of these allegations. Our teachers and staff used to be the one we trusted our children with and now they are the least trusted. We have a lot of people to turn this around and write the ship.

And then you guys try to tell Doug to stop, bring up the path. It's not the past, still present. Our kids are still being victimized. And you guys are helping the criminals to victimize our children. Our kids are in danger and you're not doing something about it. Then you are the danger. Chris, just your reaction to the outrage and also the idea of how it was allowed to fester, but also what should have been done?

How do you handle these types of allegations? Well, the minute there's an allegation, it must be investigated right away. It's got to be reported to the IRA ups in the school system, and it's got to be reported immediately to law enforcement. Now, there are laws in place in most states where it says if an educator gets an allegation like this, a supervisor, like the principal here, they must report it. And at some point in the chain of command, it's got to get brought to law enforcement. And that didn't happen initially. It wasn't until this train was way down the tracks that this finally came to the attention of police. And you've got to take this stuff seriously because when you let it slide, look at what happened. These guys got away with it allegedly for a decade because nobody took the allegation seriously. And these kids had to live in fear of being targeted when they went to school every day. And what kind of an environment is that? It's horrible. Do you find it weird or odd or different that it's multiple?

alleged predator teachers? Not just one, but multiple in the same area. And maybe I'm cynical because of what I see in our continuing investigations on True Blue or Tateown and all these other stories I've done over the years. It doesn't surprise me that two predators would have some sort of alliance and perhaps try to cover each other. We see this in these various investigations. You know, they'll team up. Or if you take the allegations, it's true. If he's getting away with it. Yeah. Maybe I could get away. Right. And it, Incrementally, you know, what happens in some of these cases when you're looking at predators, they have a fantasy, they see a target, I don't know if, you know, pornography was involved in this,

but we often see that in the mix, and they keep stepping and stepping. Incrementally, it becomes acceptable in their mind, and then they act, and that's what we saw in this case. Can I, I want to get your reaction to the response of something. So in response to the community's anger and frustration, we had the acting superintendent, Dr. Steve Webb, who issued a statement, and he expressed the district's acknowledgement of the, quote, pain, disappointment, betrayal, fear, shame that has swept through the St. Helens community. I understand that the community of St. Helens is hurting, anxious, and in many cases, angry. Many of you are outraged, that the system failed to protect. this community's children and that some adults allegedly failed to act when informed of misconduct. Webb also said that the district has plans to address sexual abuse allegations moving forward, meaning reviewing policies on mandatory reporting and staff ethics.

There's going to be an investigation and issuance of a report within two months. He'll be working with law enforcement. He's also going to be tasked with appointing an acting principal and hold listening sessions at each school, meet with community leaders. You know, I wonder, is that an adequate response? Is that the only response available? Well, it is the only response. You have to really dig into the institutional issues

that exist within this school and potentially in the entire school district. So you have to break it down. You have to rebuild it, and you have to make sure that there is a mechanism for students and teachers to make these complaints. Because what you have now is a system where there was impunity in terms of these two teachers.

So it is the only thing that can happen. And the good news here is that, much like the communities in which we do these predator stings, they become the safest communities in America. Yeah, I'm sure. For a period of time. That's going to be the same issue here, the same situation here in this school district.

There will be reform. In your experience, how should teachers, administrators, what warning signs should they look out for? What are the warning signs? Well, any time that somebody is overly chummy with a student, a teacher student. I mean, you know, look, there's a rule going back many, many years. You only touch a student between here and here and only if it's appropriate. And whether it's a coach or whether it's a teacher of any subject, there has to be an appropriate

distance psychologically because, you know, you're talking about an adult versus a child who's still very vulnerable. And yes, there are great teachers who have all had them who, you know, you might have become friendly with or might even, you know, you know, been your coach and helped you play a sport better. But a teacher has a unique responsibility in our society, and that is to engage, to teach, to inspire, but also to create an appropriate distance, so this relationship does not get inappropriate.

In your experience catching predators like this, what are the challenges when they're teachers or members of a school district? Is it different? We've seen teachers on numerous occasions show up in our investigations. And they claim to me that they would never do this with a student, even though they have students the same age as the child they're coming to a seat

is sexually exploited in our sting. I don't believe them when they say that because I think given the opportunity, they would act upon it. Yeah. And I want to go back to something of the TikToker for a second. So this TikTok to the TikTok that we mentioned in the previous episode or before Doug Weaver seemed to play a pivotal role in getting the law enforcement's attention.

And he mentioned this email that Principal Wagner had said, down in which she said, retramatization and revisiting past issues that have been addressed makes it difficult to move forward in a positive direction at a school community. Knowing what we know now and what she's charged with, what do you make of that statement? I think they're trying to sweep it under the rug. I mean, they were trying to do the most expeditious thing possible and make it go away and make it all better, but they weren't going to go after or take any disciplinary action against these teachers. They hadn't reported it to law enforcement. It is outrageous that this situation went on as long.

as it did. And thankfully now, you know, better people are in charge. Do you ever have the opportunity to speak to the parents or the victims themselves? And how do they recover from something like this? Well, it takes some time. And each case is very individually specific. I get letters all the time from listeners of the podcast, predators I've caught. And there are all the time people who say, this happened to me. Thank you for doing this work. And through therapy and embracing, you know, justice in this case, I've been able to get through it. But I can't tell you how many times, Jesse, my wife and I will be out to dinner someplace and somebody say, hey, can I talk to you for a minute? And they'll tell me the story about a teacher who acted inappropriately,

about a situation in their own life, sometimes within the family. These are not always strangers, predators, you know, and, you know, thanking for what we do, but also just making me aware of how important this work is and how many survivors and victims are out there. Well, you do great work, and, you know, I really appreciate you coming on to talk about this. It's such a bizarre, scary case. This is, and this is an extreme case, but, you know, we see this in schools all the time. And parents have a role here, obviously, too. And they have to listen to the kids.

And my mantra to parents is always you have to create an environment where something is going on with your child. They need to feel comfortable to come and talk to you, whether it's extortion, whether it's, an inappropriate approach from an adult online. And this happens not on the black web, not in these, you know, bizarre, extreme sexually charged chat rooms. This happens on everyday social media. And it's totally unrelated, but it sometimes takes these extreme prosecutions. Like the school shooting cases where you charge the parents.

Yes. It takes sometimes like this to get people's attention and say, look, you cannot give a disturbed child a gun without any restrictions on. on it and feed his fantasy. And you need to crack down. You can't let a school administrator, especially a principal in this case, who is the trusted leader of this school,

they have a responsibility. And if they get an allegation like this, they must act. And I think they will from now on in Oregon. Shocking charges, shocking development. If you want a little more Chris Hansen, because who doesn't want a little bit more Chris Hansen? True Blue, take down on True Blue.

Predators I've caught with Chris Hansen. And by the way, Chris, I don't think we ever say, What's your Twitter? What's your X handle? It's at Chris Hanson on X. It's official Chris Hanson on Instagram. TikTok is have a seat with Chris Hanson. And that's about it.

Love it. All right. Chris Hanson, good seeing you. Thank you, Jesse. Appreciate it. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us.

And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.