Student Teacher Gets 4 Years In Prison For Sending Nudes To 13-Year-Old Boys

Lamar, MO – A former student teacher in Missouri was sentenced to four years in prison after she pleaded guilty to sending nude photos of herself to three 13-year-old students.

The investigation began on May 20, 2017 when the mother of one of the boys filed a complaint against student teacher Emily Edson after she learned about an inappropriate conversation Edson had with her son, the Joplin Globe reported.

Then-Lamar Police Chief Rusty Rives said the information provided by the mother led to interviews with her son and two other 8th Grade boys from the Children’s Center in Nevada.

Afterwards, police got a search warrant for Edson’s cellphone and seized it on May 26, 2017, the Joplin Globe reported.

Police interviewed Edson the same day they obtained her phone but she wasn’t arrested until June 4, 2017.

Three days later, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force served a warrant on Edson’s house and seized her computer, her tablet, and some compact discs, according to the Joplin Globe.

Barton County Prosecutor Mike Smalley filed additional charges against the former student teacher in February of 2019.

That complaint alleged that Edson sent naked pictures of herself to three 13-year-old male students via an electronic device, the Joplin Globe reported.

The affidavit said Edson asked one of the boys to have sex with her on multiple occasions and talked to him in a sexual way on a regular basis.

Edson’s case was moved out of Barton County, and on Oct. 15, she pleaded guilty in Vernon County Circuit Court to three counts of sexual misconduct with a child and one count of promoting child pornography, the Joplin Globe reported.

Prior to the plea agreement, Edson had been facing one count of sexual enticement of a child and two counts of possession of child pornography, in addition to the sexual misconduct charges.

However, under the terms of her plea deal, the Barton County prosecutor dismissed the enticement count and one of the child pornography charges and converted the other possession of child pornography charge into the lesser charge of promoting child pornography, the Joplin Globe reported.

The plea deal capped the now-39-year-old Edson’s sentence at four years behind bars.