Madison Soper, a former volunteer softball coach, was arrested after accusations that she sexually abused multiple students between 2016 and 2017 at Banks High School in Oregon. According to the Daily Mail, Soper faces charges of using a child in the display of sexually explicit conduct, online sexual corruption of a minor in the first degree, luring a minor, sexual abuse in the second degree and sexual abuse in the third degree.
Soper allegedly “had contact with multiple student-athletes” while serving as a coach.
Before volunteering to serve as a softball coach, Soper was an honor-roll student at Banks High School and was an all-state catcher. She played regional softball and also led the team to a Class 4A title.
Former Banks softball coach arrested for child sex abuse, police believe there may be more victims:
Madison D. Soper was a volunteer assistant… https://t.co/iCj2CiJQYB— Jerome Elam (@JeromeElam) December 3, 2019
Since the beginning of 2019 alone, a handful of teachers have been arrested on similar charges, including 25-year-old substitute teacher Alexis Mercedes Boberg in Baltimore, 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.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.