BUCKS COUNTY, PA (KYW Newsradio) — A guidance counselor at Pennridge South Middle School is facing felony charges for inappropriate contact with a 14-year-old over the summer.
The investigation into 35-year-old Kelly Ann Schutte began on July 17. In the affidavit of probable cause, police say a 14-year-old boy called his mom in a panic, asking to be picked up in Pennsburg.
When the mother questioned her son, he told her he was at his guidance counselor’s home. That’s when police say one of Schutte’s family members walked in the house, saw them kissing, and angrily told him to leave.
Police say Schutte got to know the student during a school trip in fall 2022 where he sat next to her on the bus ride.
Following that trip, the student says Schutte would often call him to her office, causing him to miss class. During the school year, the two communicated through Canvas, a messaging app the district uses. When the school year ended, the two kept in touch through Snapchat.
When they interviewed the boy he told them Schutte inappropriately touched him while she was driving. And he told them in June she’d visited his home when his family was out of town, with inappropriate contact in his bedroom.
Police say the boy’s story is backed up by Snapchat messages, a video from a shopping center parking lot, and an earring she’d left behind in his bedroom.
Pennridge School District says they are cooperating with authorities and that Schutte was placed on administrative leave in July when district officials found out about the investigation.
Schutte is being charged with three counts of institutional sexual assault, corruption of minors, and indecent assault.