Former South Central High School teacher Shane Lother of Edgewood Road in Salem was ordered held without bond after being formally charged in Marion County Court Monday with grooming a 15-year-old female student.
The charge states that Lother, a person holding a position of trust, authority or supervision in relation to the child victim knowingly engaged in a pattern of conduct that attempted to seduce, solicit, lure or entice the minor to engage in any unlawful sexual conduct by communicating with the victim in person and via electronic messages.
Judge Ericka Sanders ordered Lother detained after finding there was a great risk of harm to the alleged victim if Lother was released based on evidence found on the victim’s phone and being involved in an emotional relationship with an underage person.
The alleged victim’s father provided police with his daughter’s phone. Jefferson County Detective Titzer, who is conducting the investigation at the request of Kinmundy and Farina Police, located several deleted emails from Lother’s school email account and a deleted email from Lother that said ‘I was told that it looked like we were getting a little too close and comfortable with each other, and you and I can’t have people thinking that. It can’t even be a question.’
Two of Lother’s former co-workers told Titzer they had observed inappropriate behavior between Lother and the girl. Lother reportedly told one of them he was physically attracted to the juvenile and admitted driving to the girl’s home to have a private conversation with her during which he said he was ‘attracted to her and knew she was attracted to him, but they could not be together.’ The co-worker said she always found Lother and the alleged victim in close proximity to each other.
The other co-worker expressed concerns about Lother’s interaction with the girl during a recent school trip. Those concerns included them sitting in close proximity on the bus and speaking with each other during the entire bus trip while not speaking with others around them.
When Titzer obtained a search warrant for Lother’s phone on April 23rd, Lother reportedly said the girl had a crush on him. He also acknowledged going to the girls home alone to speak with her about what others had seen. Lother also said he talked to her about their relationship, saying there was a relationship/interaction that he ‘felt too, but they couldn’t because there are 100 different ways it ends badly.’
Titzer talked to the alleged victim on the same day. She said she had deleted all of her emails with Lother after he told her people were getting the wrong idea and they needed to keep their distance. When asked why she would delete the emails and notes of innocent conversations, the juvenile said the conversation was not innocent. The juvenile noted she did not want to get Lother in trouble because he was her favorite teacher. She said they were very careful with their communications.
Lother waived a preliminary hearing and formal arraignment. A jury trial was set for July 13th. He is due back in court June third for his next pretrial hearing. Lother has obtained Matt Wilzbach as a private attorney to represent him.
Lother had been placed on administrative leave on February 26th when South Central School District became aware of allegations and reported Lother to DCFS and Kinmundy Police.
