Marion County high school teacher arrested after paying juvenile for oral sex, police report states
May 14—FAIRMONT — Police arrested a Fairmont Senior High teacher May 7 on suspicion of child sex abuse.
According to the criminal complaint, White Hall Police accused Ernest Lee Yeager, 33, of performing oral sex on a 17-year-old juvenile from Fairmont Senior High in the Tygart Valley Walmart parking lot in White Hall. Yeager, from Mannington, allegedly paid the student $100 and later admitted to exchanging nude photos with the student after admitting to the incident, the complaint states.
Fairmont Senior High still lists Yeager as a math teacher at the school. He previously taught at North Marion High where he left under questionable circumstances.
Yeager is being held at press time in the North Central Regional Jail on a $200,012 surety/cash bail on charges of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or other person in position of trust to a child.
Marion County School Superintendent Donna Heston said she couldn't comment on Yeager's employment since it's a personnel issue.
"I will say that we are fully cooperating with the agencies that are investigating this," she said.
Under the post a Facebook group called West Virginia Mugshots made on Yeager's arrest, members of the community discussed and speculated on the nature of the charges. Although several posters expressed shock, another narrative emerged surrounding the nature of the allegations from former students and members of the public.
"As one of his sorta recent students this doesn't surprise me he had to resign from NM for some shady stuff he was doing as well," Kait Abbott said in a post on the thread.
Abbott later said in a Facebook message she was a student at North Marion High. Abbott clarified she did not go to North Marion at the time he was a teacher and couldn't give any further information on him in that time period.
"The fact that no one else caught on to this is blowing my mind," Abbott nonetheless said in her reply to a public post.
Several other people expressed a lack of surprise at the news. One poster said Yeager resigned after being caught going to parties with his former students, although was unsure if that was the reason for the resignation. Another respondent posted independently of Abbott's subthread, saying Yeager had previous accusations against him at North Marion.
However the most inflammatory post came from one person who said Yeager sent them nudes as a juvenile, which is what led Yeager to resign after the person leaked the nudes throughout the school. The Times West Virginian reached out to the individual to confirm the information but could not reach them before press time.
However, a second person replied independently, "Remember when bro sent you straight nudes freshman year?"
Heston couldn't comment on Yeager's employment or resignation from North Marion, citing state rules governing what information public officials can disclose about personnel matters. However, she said employees are screened through the West Virginia Department of Education.
According to the Department's website, first time candidates must undergo a background check administered by the West Virginia State Police and FBI. However, under the section with the subhead "Current West Virginia School System Employees," a candidate only needs to acquire appropriate signatures from their employer on the application form.
No category laying out background check rules for teachers who left but returned was easily visible.
According to information found on Yeager's Facebook profile, Yeager's mother lists her employment at the Marion County Board of Education, where she works as a custodian.
Frank Caputo, staff representative for the American Federation of Teachers of West Virginia, said he couldn't comment on the arrest either. However, he cautioned against jumping to conclusions and to let the county do its investigation. That said, West Virginia law on this type of crime is strict.
"Teachers and service personnel are custodians, which means that it'd be like having an affair with your own child as far as the definition," he said. "It's very serious."
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
