School staffers accused of seducing student

GREENCASTLE, Ind. (WISH) - Three North Putnam High School employees were arrested Tuesday after police said they were involved in an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old male student.

Indiana State Police said the three were in teaching or leadership roles with the school during the time of the alleged inappropriate physical contact, between last October and this January.

A tip led ISP to investigate beginning Jan. 18. ISP said in a news release Tuesday that investigators believe the three adult males individually and separately engaged on multiple occasions in various acts of a sexual nature on school property after hours and at locations away from school property. The adults also sent texts and photographs to the teen, ISP said.

Substitute Spanish teacher Nicholas A. Vester, 24, Lafayette, was arrested at his home Tuesday, and band teacher Craig E. Rogers, 24, Indianapolis, and lifeguard and volunteer swimming instructor Brandon D. Largent, 20, both turned themselves in to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday. All three face one count of child seduction, a Class D felony.

According to probable cause documents, Rogers and Largent admitted to kissing the student. Vester told investigators he and the student engaged in sex acts on two separate occasions.

The three men faced their initial court appearances Wednesday. Each man’s bond was set at $10,000 and a no contact order was issued, forbidding the men contact the victim. All three are tentatively set to be back in court on April 19.