Kassandra Moore, 31, has been charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious battery and one count of transmission of harmful material to a minor
A newlywed Florida private school teacher has been arrested after police claim she had sex with a 15-year-old student on numerous occasions and sent him sexually explicit pictures of herself over Instagram.
Bradenton police said they were made aware of the claims against Kassandra Moore, 31, back in April when they were contacted by the Broach School, where she worked as a teacher.
Authorities were provided with a copy of a conversation thread shared between Moore and the alleged teen victim over Instagram, prompting an investigation.
The interaction initially started with questions about a homework assignment but soon messages of a ‘flirtatious manner’ were exchanged back-and-forth, an affidavit shows.
‘I wanted to just grab you and kiss you, but I didn’t want to make the first move and you reject me,’ one message sent by Moore reportedly reads.
Investigators had obtained a copy of a ‘flirtatious’ conversation thread shared between Moore and the alleged teen victim over Instagram
Police also spoke to the recipient of the messages, who is said to have shown them several screenshots of ‘lewd selfie-style’ pictures that Moore had sent to him, showing her in lingerie with her ‘body parts exposed and posed in a sexual manner’.
The teenage boy also confessed to detectives the pair had arranged to meet in several locations – including Moore’s car, at school after hours, and at the G.T. Bray Park – where they engaged in sexual acts.
Their apparent relationship ended when one of the student’s friends informed the principal of the inappropriate on-goings.
However, when approached by detectives, Moore allegedly attempted to coerce a colleague into providing a false alibi for her, as well as messaging a former student to ask how to remotely delete messages and images from another person’s phone.
At first her colleague is said to have considered lying to police to protect Moore, but later instead agreed to assist the investigation when they learned of the full extent of the allegations against her.
Police reviewed several screenshots of ‘lewd selfie-style’ pictures that Moore had sent to him, showing her in lingerie with her ‘body parts exposed and posed in a sexual manner’
Bradenton police said they were made aware of the claims against Moore back in April when they were contacted by the Broach School (above), where she worked as a teacher
In turn, Moore provided a seven-page statement to school and investigators, which included alibis for the allegations. None of the alibis provided proved to be true, according to police.
Instead, the 15-year-old’s version of events was reportedly substantiated through DNA evidence, after they recovered a used condom from G.T. Bray Park and matched the genetic profile to Moore’s.
They also claim to be in possession of video surveillance footage taken at the school clearly showing Moore and the boy together in her car.
As a result, they say they were able to determine that Moore and the boy had sex four times between March 23 and March 29, through both interviews with the victim and evidence in the case.
Police believe this is an isolated incident, however they are conducting an investigation to determine whether Moore has any other victims.
She was married in July 2018 and fired by the school in April, shortly after the allegations came to light.
The teenage boy also confessed to detectives the pair had arranged to meet in several locations – including Moore’s car, at school after hours, and at the G.T. Bray Park – to meet up for sex, A condom containing Moore’s DNA as found next to a park bench
Moore was then arrested on Monday and refused to provide a statement to police without her attorney present.
She is now being held in the Manatee County Jail on a $31,500 bond, charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious battery and one count of transmission of harmful material to a minor.
‘Our students and families are our top priority, and we are deeply saddened by these allegations, the Broach School said in a statement. ‘Once we were notified of the allegations, we immediately reported them to the appropriate authorities and the teacher was terminated.
‘All employees of CES are thoroughly vetted and complete a thorough FDLE background screening prior to employment. We take these allegations very seriously and are doing everything we can to facilitate the investigation.’