Ex-Teacher Who Set Up Secret Instagram To Send Nudes To 8th Grader Sentenced To 5 Years

A former teacher in Wisconsin will be spending five years in prison after being found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy, and even maintaining a secret Instagram account that she used to send the child explicit photos of herself.

Sarah Heskin was sentenced on Monday to five years behind bars for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student; following her release, she will have to register as a sex offender and spend a decade on extended supervision, according to the Winona Daily News. She was also ordered to pay $2,058 in restitution and to refrain from having any contact with the victim or his family, nor can she have any contact at all with minors without first having that contact approved by her probation officer.

Heskin, who previously worked as an English teacher at Durand-Arkansaw Middle School, pleaded guilty in December to a felony charge of second-degree sexual assault as part of a plea deal, according to WEAU. She was arrested more than six months earlier, in May, for what authorities described as “inappropriate relations” with a student.

Heskin’s abuse of the boy began some time in February, the Leader-Telegram reports. Police launched an investigation after an official at the middle school heard claims from multiple students that Heskin, a 24-year-old Eau Claire resident, had been having an “inappropriate relationship” with a student, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the outlet.

Sarah Heskin Photo: Pepin County Jail

When an officer met with the student in question to discuss the claims, the student — whose name and gender were not revealed in the complaint, in order to protect the privacy of a minor — at first only admitted that Heskin had hugged him before, but when questioned further, revealed, on one occasion, to having tried to kiss Heskin, which upset the teacher, the complaint reportedly states. The student also denied having any contact with Heskin on social media, but when Heskin was questioned by police, she admitted to talking with the teen via Instagram. She reportedly claimed initially that the communication involved her giving the student advice, but she later admitted to not only kissing the student, but sending him inappropriate photos of herself.

The complaint states that Heskin told police that she’d set up a secret Instagram account that she and the student used to communicate, and that she sent “two or three” photos, as well as a video of herself, that were taken from her bed, and that she was topless at the time, according to the Leader-Telegram. She claimed to have been intoxicated when she sent the explicit materials, but also admitted that she was fully aware of the child’s age.

Heskin also admitted to kissing the child while at school, according to local outlet WQOW.

Heskin was arrested in May and initially charged with using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, the Durand Police Department said last year. She was booked at the Pepin County jail, where she remained until posting $10,000 bond, according to police. Heskin is not believed to have victimized any other students at the school.