Lancaster, SC substitute teacher touched student, had nude child photo, deputies said
A substitute teacher at a South Carolina high school has been arrested after he allegedly touched a student in a sexual manner and had a sexually explicit nude photo of a child on his cellphone, Lancaster County deputies said Friday.
Austin Shane Truesdale, 24, of Lancaster County, was a part-time substitute teacher at Andrew Jackson High School in the Lancaster County School District, according to a Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Truesdale, of Heath Springs, is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.
Both charges against Truesdale are felonies under South Carolina law.
The school resource officer started an investigation Tuesday after receiving information about Truesdale allegedly touching a male student in a sexual manner, Barfield said. The incident happened in January at Truesdale’s home and was not related to school activities, Barfield said.
During the investigation by detectives Thursday, deputies searched Truesdale’s cellphone and found a photo of another minor male in a state of sexually explicit nudity. The picture was unrelated to school property or school activities, Barfield said.
The photo of the child was of a different person than the alleged victim in the touching case, Barfield said.
Truesdale has been removed from school and no longer has any position of authority or trust over students, Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile said in a statement.
Truesdale is in the Lancaster County jail. He has not yet made an initial appearance in court on the charges.
