Inside the Twisted Case of Mo. Teacher Accused of Paying Students to Have Sex with Her

A disgraced Missouri teacher is scheduled to enter pleas next month to 19 charges alleging she paid her underage students for sex with cash, alcohol and marijuana and then attempted to intimidate the students to cover up her actions.

Court records reviewed by PEOPLE show that Carissa Smith posted a $100,000 bond late last month, which was reduced from a previous $250,000 bond set in November when the Dixon Middle School substitute teacher was arrested on the statutory rape and sex trafficking charges.

Smith now remains under house arrest ahead of a scheduled court appearance next month, where she is being asked to enter a plea, the court records show.

The 30-year-old substitute faces multiple felony charges including statutory rape, sex trafficking, statutory sodomy,, sexual contact with a student, hindering the prosecution of a felony and a charge for patronizing prostitution, according to court records reviewed by PEOPLE.

“This is very disturbing and distressing information for everyone in our school community,” Dixon R-I School District Superintendent Travis Bohrer wrote in a letter to students’ families after Smith was arrested in November, according to local KY3 and USA Today.

Several underage students alleged to investigators that they had sex with Smith in exchange for money, according to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE.

According to the affidavit, Smith began sending nude pictures of herself on Snapchat to one of her alleged victims before they later had sex. Smith allegedly began to have sex with multiple underage students, according to the affidavit, picking them up at their homes and either having sex with them at her own house while her husband was out of town for work or in her car. According to the affidavit, she would allegedly drive them to a field or the side of the road where she would coerce them into performing sexual acts.

Smith allegedly later paid several students cash or sent them money via CashApp, the probable cause affidavit alleges, and also offered the underage children marijuana or alcohol on some occasions. The teacher allegedly asked the students not to say anything to anyone about their sexual encounters or else she “would get into trouble,” the students told police, the affidavit alleges.

On multiple occasions, Smith allegedly paid her victims at least $100 to have sex or perform sexual acts with her.

Word allegedly got out among Smith's alleged behavior, leading to at least one student reaching out to her to have sex in exchange for money. That student, according to the affidavit, was a year younger than Smith's other alleged victims; she allegedly told that student they were "too young."

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Another student was recruited by a classmate who inquired if “they wanted to do some work and make some money for work” before they went with the friend to Smith’s residence and later had sex with the teacher while the friend waited outside, the probable cause affidavit alleges.

Smith’s brother-in-law caught the former teacher in bed with an underage student after hearing a rumor about the video showing her performing a sexual act with one of her students was circulating in the community, the affidavit alleges.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

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