Who is Laura Dunker? Married Ohio teacher jailed for 'morning sex sessions' with two teen boy students in her car
A married Ohio high school teacher has admitted to having sex with her two underage students, pleading guilty to charges that she carried on the illegal relationships for nearly a year.
31-year-old Laura Dunker was found guilty of two counts of sexual battery this week in connection with the sexual encounters with the male students that took place between November 2018 and November 2019. She will be sentenced in February and will likely have to register as a sex offender. She has been sentenced to two years behind bars and five years probation on Thursday, January 21, in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
A judge on January 4, 2021, set a $5,000 bond for Dunker, according to WEWS. Jail records show she was released after posting bond, and do not list an attorney for her.
Following her arrest in 2020, Dunker was put on leave and later submitted her resignation from the Bedford School District. The Bedford City School District acknowledged the investigation and charges with a statement to staff and student families. “As I previously shared with our community, we immediately put the teacher on leave in order to protect the safety and well-being of our students,” read the statement issued December 19 by Superintendent Andrea Celico, reports WKYC. “The Board of Education accepted her resignation on December 5.”
The statement continued: “We offered services for those affected and will continue to offer support to those who may have been impacted by these allegations. As always, our priority is for the care and concern for the student victims and our school community as a whole.”
In one instance, according to the indictment, Dunker allegedly picked up one of the students prior to school and had intercourse with him in her car in a park. Two of the other alleged incidents occurred at Dunker’s home. A separate charge accuses Dunker of tampering with evidence on or about November 6, 2019, while “knowing that an official proceeding or investigation was in progress.”
"Teachers are expected to be role models to their students and communities which they serve,'' Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley said. He added: ''She took advantage of these students and now must face the consequences." Dunker was arrested in December 2019 after an assistant principal at Bedford High School informed authorities of the abuse allegations against her, according to Cleveland.com. When officers showed up at her home in Akron with a search warrant, she acknowledged why they were there and invited them inside, court records state. Dunker admitted to having sex with male students, telling investigators that she would either drive them to a park or bring them to her house when her husband wasn't there.
She was also charged for tampering with proof after she removed "numerous items" off her phone in November 2019 while "knowing that an official proceeding or investigation was in progress."