Police Arrest Teacher After Lewd Photos Found On Teen’s Cell Phone
Klewer
Published: July 16, 2009
Updated: July 16, 2009
LEBANON, Va – Eighth-grade science teacher Connie Beth Klewer sports a wide, friendly grin in the faculty photo posted on the Web page for the Lebanon Middle School.
Not so in the jailhouse mugshot snapped last week. The 37-year-old is being held without bond at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon on charges of taking indecent liberties with a child.
Obscene photos found on a teenage boy’s cell phone July 9 grabbed the attention of the Russell County Sheriff’s Office, according to a search warrant filed Monday in the county courthouse.
The boy and his mother handed deputies “obscene and explicit photographs that had been sent to the child from the suspect, Connie Beth Klewer, via telephone and computer,” sheriff’s Deputy David McCown wrote in the search warrant.
Chief Deputy Bill Watson declined Wednesday to say whether Klewer once taught the boy. Watson did confirm that the boy is younger than 15 years old.
County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brian K. Patton declined in a news statement to disclose specifics of the case. He did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday.
Klewer’s neighbors had even less information.
The science teacher lives in a red-shuttered, single story home at 46 Duff Street in Lebanon, nearly two blocks from the county courthouse. Lawn chairs and a table clutter the wide front porch. A thermometer in the shape of a snowman hangs on the front door.
The house was vacant Wednesday.
To one elderly man, Klewer was the woman who waved hello and goodbye every day. He saw her only when she parked by the curb or when she drove away.
An elderly woman said Klewer caught the neighborhood’s attention only after her arrest.
“Nobody here knows anything about her,” the woman said.
Neighbors began to pay attention the evening of July 7, when the elderly woman said three sheriff’s deputies parked on Klewer’s front curb.
Hours after seeing the photos, the search warrant shows, sheriff’s deputies carted computers, cell phones and disposable cameras out of Klewer’s home.
Deputies arrested Klewer the same day.
She is charged with single counts of using a communications device to solicit a minor, buying alcohol for a minor, indecent liberties with a child while in a supervisory relationship, indecent liberties with a child, abuse and neglect of a child while being responsible for the care of a child, and possession of child pornography.
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Reader Reactions
I bet that the address, picture, and all information were posted here not because of crack reporting, but that was just in some sort of e-mail that they get regularly from the state or some other really easy source. These folks don’t get out of their chairs, they do their crack reporting by phone. She is innocent until proven guilty, although you wouldn;t ever know that from these folks.
I dont’ think giving the address is appropriate either. They have shown her picture and given her name. If you have to have the address to realize it is the same person tutoring your child then you may want to pay closer attention to who is tutoring your child.
Every time this happens I just really try to think of how someone her age could think of someone that age in that way. I am around teenagers all the time and have never once thought of one of them in any way other than a goofy kid.
I also agree with the odd reporting on this story..why would you even report about the furniture on the porch and the snowman thermometer? To assure that the angry mob gets the right house? If you need filler to make the article longer surely you could do better than that.
Any one who becomes a teacher for the right reasons does not need a class in proper conduct with students. With relatives in the Russell Co. school system let me say that those kinds of things are covered topics and with everything that has went on in the tricities area in the past few years everyone in a position of authority SHOULD know the consequences of such behavior.
Let me also say that the address of the teacher should not have been given. She is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and it seems to me like BHC has already tried and convicted her!. Also who gives a hoot is there is snowman thermometer on her front porch?
People, what is wrong with you all? Telling her address is the right thing to do, what if another child is supposed to go there this Saturday for “tutoring”? People who are being investigated for pedophilia need to be in the news, hot and heavy so someone doesn’t allow their child to go there or have contact with them. Plain and simple, our children come first!!!!
Workshops on the “legal” contact with children…what gives, are you stupid? When has it ever been right for an adult to have relations with a child? That is common knowlege, not something you need a class for.
An automatic death sentence should be in place for those convicted of child sexually oriented crimes, then maybe there might be fewer sickos willing to commit crimes against kids…......they don’t deserve to live in society nor do they deserve to be kept up by society in a prison.
EaTn-
What makes you think this subject is NOT mentioned in current workshops?
These teachers are educated adults. If they’re prone to this type of behavior, additional workshops won’t make a difference.
Just a reflection of the deteriorated public education system.
Pitiful in ANY school system…
These teacher-student situations are probably not new but the technology used to commit and solve the crimes are bringing it to light. Again I will say to all the school systems, provide at least one teacher workshop each year on proper and legal student contacts, plus the consequences if not followed.
Correct me if i am wrong, but wouldn’t the use of the computer and cell phone to transmit porn with/of a minor be a federal charge?? There is no mention of federal charges in this report.
Publishing her home address, interviewing and neighbors, and also great investigative reporting efforts on exposing the contents of her front porch and snowman thermometer. If it’s true, what she did was wrong and stupid. It’s also wrong to post her address. Obviously this crack reporter had nothing else to report. Now, if someone attacks her or burns her house down, I wonder how he will report that?
Super job again BHC.
apparently..when it comes to sex..anything goes,and ‘innocent until proven guilty’ doesn’t count anymore. Sex sells papers. There are no journalistic ethics these days.
The charges against this woman are despicable if she is indeed guilty, so I’m not making comment on the charges here. I do question why it is necessary to publish her home address before she is tried and a verdict issued.
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