Two Louisiana high school students have been charged with fabricating “inappropriate messages” they claimed were sent to them by a teacher to frame him as a sexual predator.
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said they launched an investigation on Dec. 18 after two female students at Central Lafourche High School in Mathews — about 45 miles southwest of New Orleans –claimed an unidentified male teacher had sent them X-rated messages.
However, a two-week-long investigation soon revealed that the 15 and 16-year-old students had fabricated the conversations on an online instant messaging platform.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the girls’ electronic devices and shockingly found that the teacher had not sent any messages to them and that they had created an online profile for him to make it appear that he was having risqué conversations with them.
The students would share screenshots of the phony conversations and share them with friends to make their con seem legitimate, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
Investigators then determined the teacher was not the predator, as the girls claimed, but was the victim of a serious accusation.
When confronted by the findings, one of the students allegedly admitted to having been involved in framing the educator, police said.
“Our juvenile detectives are diligent and take claims of inappropriate behavior very seriously. They are, however, equally serious about false claims,” Sheriff Craig Webre said.
“Someone’s life can be instantly ruined by a false allegation and I am proud that our investigators were able to get to the bottom of this.”
The girls, who have not been named due to their age, were charged with one count each of false swearing for the purpose of violating public health or safety, cyberstalking, and online impersonation on Monday, according to police.
“Technology has made it very easy for people to try to manipulate the truth, but technology also makes it easy for investigators to ultimately find the truth,” Webre said.
The superintendent of Lafourche Parish School District, Jarod Martin, said he was “shocked and appalled” after hearing one of his teachers was framed and nearly lost his livelihood over the serious, yet fake, allegations.
The superintendent condemned the attack on the teacher and criticized the students’ alleged blatant attempt to ruin his “credibility and reputation.”
“We are committed to investigating all allegations of misconduct in order to provide a safe environment conducive to learning and working for all of our students and staff.”
