Teacher indicted on sex charges

Kim Smith

Monday, Oct. 21, 2002 | 9:07 a.m.

A 32-year-old teacher accused of having an affair with one of his students three years ago has been indicted on 10 criminal charges.

According to an indictment unsealed Friday in District Court, Shane Matthew Kober faces charges on 10 counts of sexual conduct between employees of a school and a student.

The indictment alleges that Kober engaged in sex acts with a student, between 16 and 17, numerous times between March, 1, 1999, and January 2000.

Kober's attorney, Aurora Maskall, said the indictment came as no surprise, but she questioned the timing of her client's arrest, noting that it took place three years after the alleged incidents and only after the police questioned the alleged victim.

"The police came hunting her down, she did not approach the police," Maskall said.

Kober, a teacher at Advanced Technologies Academy, is out of police custody on $30,000 bail.

According to a police report, the girl saved about 30 cards, letters and e-mails from the teacher that referred to sexual contact between the two.

Police interviewed Kober, a health teacher at the magnet school, on Aug. 21 about the girl's allegations.

Kober told a Metro Police sexual assault detective that he did not have sex with the girl but did have an "inappropriate, out of school, relationship with her."

The former student, who graduated from the school, told police in June that she had a sexual relationship with Kober. She said it started after she left Kober an anonymous love letter in his school mailbox.

District Judge Lee Gates will arraign Kober within the next two weeks.