A former teacher in Indiana was charged with more than a dozen sex crimes Wednesday after students alleged weeks earlier that he had asked them to touch themselves or let him touch them, numerous sources reported.
Andrew Cowells, 47, was charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography, two counts of child solicitation, two counts each of voyeurism and battery and vicarious sexual gratification, according to the South Bend Tribune. Cowells was fired from Concord Community Schools on Monday after working there as a teacher for 17 years.
Andrew Cowells was officially fired from the Concord Community Schools District on Monday, the district said. https://t.co/miZ6HUJocl
— South Bend Tribune (@SBTribune) June 23, 2021
The school district announced in early May that Cowells had been placed on leave following allegations of “inappropriate comments of a sexual nature,” the school’s website said. The district also alerted law enforcement.
#NEW TODAY: We’re following the breaking news of former Concord School teacher – Andrew Cowells – being charged with 13 felonies and 5 misdemeanors.
His charges ⬇️ include child pornography, solicitation and voyeurism.
CONCORD PARENTS: what’re your thoughts? Feel free to DM me pic.twitter.com/0NXTGh7ZWV
— Erica Finke WSBT (@EricaFinkeTV) June 23, 2021
Court documents include interviews between investigators and seven students who alleged that Cowells had made sexual requests, according to the South Bend Tribune. The students who spoke with police were 15 to 16 years old.
Cowells allegedly took a group of students into the boy’s bathroom and touched one of the boys on the morning of May 5, the South Bend Tribune reported. Three students also alleged that Cowells had tried to watch at least two students urinate, according to the Goshen News.
Many of the alleged sexual misconduct incidents happened in a classroom. One student alleged that Cowells asked him to touch himself while standing on a chair in front of the classroom on May 5, according to the South Bend Tribune. The student alleged that Cowells said he was aroused, according to the Goshen News.
A second student claimed Cowells spoke about “sexual things” while sitting on their desk, and another student alleged that Cowells wanted to “grind” on him, according to the Goshen News.
One student told investigators that Cowells allegedly made sexual jokes, asked “if anyone had the courage” to let him touch them and then pressured the class for a volunteer. When a student stood up, Cowells allegedly touched the male student “from his shoulders to his butt[ocks],” the South Bend Tribune reported.
After obtaining a search warrant, police who searched Cowells’ phone found photos of boys undressing and performing sex acts, the South Bend Tribune reported. An affidavit indicated the photos were all accessed in June 2020, according to the Goshen News.
No students from the school or children from the area were in the photographs, the school district said, according to the South Bend Tribune.
“This is wholly unacceptable,” Superintendent Dan Funston said Wednesday, according to the Goshen News. “Teachers are meant to be trusted adults in the lives of our kids. We’re angry any time the well being of our students is put in jeopardy.”
Three other teachers are on leave following the incident in early May at the school, and a search warrant was obtained by police for those teachers’ cell phones, according to the South Bend Tribune. It was unclear why the teachers were on leave.
Numerous teachers across the country have been charged with sexual misconduct crimes involving children.
A former teacher at a Philadelphia middle school was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after he asked a 12-year-old boy to send him explicit videos and was in possession of child pornography. (RELATED: Middle School Teacher Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Asking Boy For ‘Sexy Video,’ Possessing Child Porn)
In Minnesota, a substitute teacher was arrested for allegedly “sextorting” children by pretending to be a girl on the internet and then threatening to expose sexually explicit photos.