A Delaware private Catholic school teacher has been arrested for sending nude photos to a 14-year-old student on Snapchat, police said.
Alanis Pinion, 24, was teaching eighth grade at St. Mary Magdalen School in Wilmington when the New Castle County Police Department said she “had frequently communicated with her students via Snapchat and had sent sexually explicit photographs to one of them.”
A press release that the department shared on Facebook detailed how Pinion was arrested on Thursday on charges of sexual solicitation of a child under 18 and endangering the welfare of a child — both felonies — as well as a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure in the first degree:
Police have already notified the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington of the allegations, noting that it “fully cooperated with the investigation.”
Pinion has since been committed to the Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution after failing to pay a $46,000.00 cash bail.
A statement from St. Mary Magdalen School, which the Daily Mail obtained, referred to Pinion as a “‘former part time contract employee”:
Earlier this week, the school was contacted by the New Castle County Police to notify us of an investigation and ultimately an arrest of a former part time contract employee regarding allegations of an exchange of inappropriate images electronically with a former student.
“The contractor had successfully completed the required background check process prior to her employment. The school, parish and our Diocese officials supported the police as they conducted their investigation,” the statement continued.
“Please be assured that all of us at Saint Mary Magdalen Parish and School, along with our partners at the Diocese of Wilmington, always keep the safety of our children and youth as a primary goal.”
Investigators also said that they are “concerned that there may be additional victims who have not yet come forward.”
Police detectives have asked anyone with any additional information to contact them.