A Wisconsin district attorney has charged a school superintendent with six counts of felony false imprisonment after she reportedly demanded that students strip down to their underwear while she watched in an effort to search for e-cigarette cartridges, KCRG-TV reported.
What are the details?
Suring School District Superintendent Kelly Casper is accused of herding at least six students into a small bathroom off the nurse’s office at a district school and telling them to remove all of their clothing save for their underwear.
District Attorney Edward Burke Jr. on Monday said that Casper stood in the doorway while the children disrobed.
“Once the children removed their clothing, any opportunity they had to escape would have subjected them to further shame and embarrassment,” Burke said in a news release on the charges.
None of the children, Burke added, were able to contact their parents or leave the property before being confined in the small bathroom.
“The only choice they were given was to have the search conducted by a police officer or Casper,” Burke — who initially declined to file charges against Casper — added.
The release concluded, “The State concludes that Kelly Casper lacked legal authority to confine the students in a small restroom located off the nurses office located in the Suring School Public School complex. The facts and surrounding circumstances leads the State to conclude that the children involved did not consent to being confined.”
Burke previously refused to file charges after initially stating that the search didn’t qualify as a legal “strip search” as students were permitted to remain in their underclothes, but later determined that the incident fit the state’s definition of false imprisonment.
Kelly faces up to six years’ imprisonment and a fine of $10,000 on each count if convicted on all charges.
According to a report from WBAY-TV, the school board is scheduled to meet on Wednesday.
Suring School Superintendent Kelly Casper charged with false imprisonment
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