Teacher 'tried to seduce pupil but was caught by hidden detail in nude photo'
School teacher Oliver Fell, 28, was arrested after eagle-eyed police noticed an apparent give-away clue in the back of a nude photograph she is said to have sent to one of her students
A teacher has been accused of sending a naked picture and engaging in sexual conduct with a pupil after cops spotted a giveaway 'clue' in a lewd photo.
Oliver Fell, 28, is now facing charges including lewd conduct with a student by an authority figure and sending harmful material to a minor, police confirmed.
Fell was arrested on March 3 after a 14-year-old middle school student told a school resource deputy that they had had more than three months of social media communications with the accused. Police said the pupil claimed that back in early January, Fell sent him an "explicit photo" via Snapchat.
Following these allegations, both the school district and the Manatee County Sheriff's Office's Crimes Against Children Unit were informed and swiftly started investigating the student's accusations.
Detectives managing the case reportedly searched his phone with a warrant, and discovered messages between the pair. Investigators claimed that an "explicit photo of a nude breast" found on the phone was identified as belonging to the teacher.
They said Fell, who had no prior record, denied the social media account was hers, or that she sent the images.
Detectives secured a warrant to search Fell's home in Manatee County, Florida, and said that a giveaway 'clue' in the image helped them connect it to the accused. 'The evidence against her in that photo, we were able to match to the background in her house,' said Capt. Mark Morie with the Child Protection Division of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
A statement also suggested that extra information gathered in early May had bolstered the case, although the MCSO did not provide further details. An arrest warrant was issued on 2 June, and Fell surrendered herself later that day. She is currently being held at Manatee County Jail on a $2,500 bond.
Fell has also been ordered to stay away from the accuser and all other minors, and can only be in the presence of juvenile family members under supervision.
On Monday, Carlos E. Haile Middle School principal Irene Nikitopoulos addressed the allegations in a letter to parents.
She stated that it "took several weeks of investigation to confirm the allegations of the illegal communications" and added 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 confirmed that the school and the district would fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
Fell is currently without a lawyer and has yet to enter a plea.
It comes after a female teacher who has been banned from classrooms for life for sending nude pictures of herself to a vulnerable student gave a pathetic excuse for her actions.
Megan Lanning, 36, admitted to sending two explicit images to a student known only as Pupil A while she was teaching performing arts and music at Ripplevale School and College in Rochester, Kent. The Teaching Regulation Agency heard that the first image showed her topless while the second saw her genitals were covered only by her hand which was 'performing a sexual act'.
During a private hearing in Coventry, West Midlands, it emerged that Lanning did not solicit or receive any photos in return.
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