Brynn Larsen, a 29-year-old health and physical education teacher at Father Allouez Catholic School in Wisconsin, has been arrested and charged for having an alleged sexual relationship with an underage student.
Larsen has been accused of engaging in sexual contact while she was working as a substitute teacher and volleyball coach in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin, in 2013 and 2014.
Larsen was arrested by the Oconto Falls Police Department on Friday, May 3, and taken to the Oconto County Jail, where she was officially charged with various counts of sexual assault and child enticement.
Police say that Larsen allegedly engaged in sexual contact with a then-15-year-old female student between 2013 and 2014. While the allegations were investigated back in 2014, both Larsen and the alleged victim denied the relationship.
However, the alleged victim, now 19-years-old, told Oconto Falls Police last month that “it’s time for the truth to come out”, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
She was scheduled to make her first court appearance on Monday, May 6.
While Larsen began teaching at Father Allouez Catholic School in Green Bay in August 2018, her profile has since been removed from the school’s website.
Larsen is just one of many education officials to be arrested and charged for inappropriate contact with an underage student in recent years.
Since the beginning of 2019 alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including Beulah High School teacher Kelsie Schmidt in North Dakota, Rancocas Valley Regional High School teacher Alexandra Reiner in New Jersey, and 50-year-old Florida substitute teacher Angela Jean Stanton in Florida. Additionally, Texas teachers Meredith Null and Edna Longoria were arrested on similar charges.
As for why the number of these incidents has seemingly increased, studies suggest that smartphones are the primary reason for the spike in illicit relationships, as it allows teachers to communicate with the minors without supervision.
According to a report from the Texas Education Association, smartphones make easy for teachers to privately text and talk with students and also make it possible for teachers and students to share explicit images.
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