A teacher at Kentridge High School in the suburbs of Seattle was arrested after he allegedly agreed to pay a 15-year-old cheerleader $100 to have sex with him, reports local FOX affiliate KCPQ.
The teacher, 27-year-old Brett Conley, answered an online personal ad with the title “student looking for older men.”
The ad was totally fake, of course. The person who posted it wasn’t a cheerleader at all. Instead, reports CBS affiliate KIRO, the ad had been created by a Seattle police detective.
Somehow, though, Conley convinced himself that a local 15-year-old cheerleader was selling sex on the Internet. He allegedly sent a chain of texts and emails that will presumably be helpful in his prosecution. In those messages, he detailed the sex acts he wanted. He also allegedly promised to pay the princely sum of $100.
Conley allegedly made plans to meet the girl at a McDonald’s in an industrial area of Seattle last week. He showed up to find a Seattle detective.
According to prosecutors, the detective arrested Conley and convinced him to surrender his cellphone, which contained several texts and emails concerning the rendezvous.
It’s not clear how the detective identified Conley among the patrons at the McDonald’s.
As KCPQ notes, Conley taught English and social studies to freshmen and sophomores at Kentridge High. The students are about the same age as the fake cheerleader the teacher thought he was about to have sex with.
A KIRO reporter interviewed students who had Conley as a teacher. They mentioned that a substitute teacher had been teaching his classes the last few days.
“He wasn’t like creepy or anything,” said student Elysia Krupp. “He was, like, a pretty good teacher. He was one of my favorites. It was actually kind of weird to hear that that happened.”
A school district spokesman told the station that Conley had just been hired to teach at the high school this year. He passed the district’s background checks with flying colors.
Prosecutors have charged Conley with attempted commercial sexual abuse of a minor. He is out on bail.
He won’t be returning to the classroom, school district officials said. It’s unclear if he is on paid leave while he awaits trial. He will enter a plea next month.
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