On March 16, a former high school teacher was arrested for sexually grooming 10 minor students at McLoud High School in Oklahoma in the United States. The accused was identified as 43-year-old Serena Cator.
As per reports, the matter came to light in November last year after a student told her mother that the accused was having sexual relations with one of the students.
Soon after, the school administration initiated a probe into the matter. During an interview with Cator, she admitted to having sent nude pictures of her to underage students and soliciting their pictures in return.
2 victims were in a relationship with the accused’s daughter
Cator further informed that two of her victims were in a relationship with her daughter. Her modus operandi involved befriending the mothers of the minor boys, sending their pictures to the parents, and appreciating them randomly.
Serena Cator would then follow up with the victims at school and then take their relationship to social media platforms such as Snapchat. The McLoud High School administration passed over their findings to the McLoud Police Department (MPD).
A probable cause affidavit, filed in the case, read, “Serena Cator is a predator, a stalker, and a pedophile, stalking young boys from the age of 14 and up. Most of the young victims said they found the situation extremely weird and cut off correspondence before they got lured to Snapchat or just after.”
“Most of the parents felt uneasy about the constant texts and pictures from class and from sporting events, where Cator was bragging about the students. All the parents said if it had been their daughter and a male teacher they would have been alarmed but each said they pushed down the ‘weirdness’ of it because it was their sons and a female teacher, who they ‘thought’ they knew,” it added.
Serena Cator is out on bail
Serena Cator is now facing 3 felony counts of soliciting sexual communication with minors using technology. She was arrested on March 16 this year but was soon released on a bail of $15000 (₹12.35 lakhs). The case is now in the hands of the Pottawatomie County District Attorney.
While speaking about the matter, McLoud Police Chief, Kyle Webb said, “We received the information from the school in November 2022, so the investigation pretty much started then.”
He added, “It took a little while (since) it was a pretty in-depth investigation, and then we turned everything over to the DA, and they filed three counts against Serena.”
“It disturbs a lot of people, especially teachers and their students because the school there, they care about their kids. We all care about kids,” Kyle Webb concluded.
