A Florida middle school teacher turned herself in to authorities this week and was booked on felony charges for sending a lewd photograph to a 14-year-old student.
According to a press release from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, 28-year-old teacher Oliver Fell sent an explicit photo through the Snapchat social media app to her student at Carlos E. Haile Middle School in Bradenton, Fla. One message included an explicit photo of her nude breast, authorities said.
Fell had been communicating with the student on the app since last December, said the sheriff’s office. She allegedly sent the explicit photo via the platform this January and authorities learned about it in March, the press release explained.
“The school administration was informed of the allegations, and detectives from the MCSO Crimes Against Children Unit started an investigation,” it said. “Over the course of several weeks, detectives confirmed that the student had communicated with the teacher multiple times on social media, beginning in December 2024.”
Then, they obtained a search warrant and received permission to access data from phones and social media accounts. That is when they discovered evidence of the lewd communications. In mid-May, authorities received additional evidence from Snapchat that strengthened the case, the press release said.
This Monday, arrest warrants were issued for Fell, charging her with lewd contact with a student by an authority figure, a second-degree felony, and transmission of harmful material to a minor, a third-degree felony. She turned herself in that day and an investigation into the case is ongoing.
ABC 7 reported that Carlos E. Haile Middle School principal Irene Nikitopoulos sent a letter to parents about the investigation.
“I am following up on a previous communication I sent about a staff member being investigated for alleged inappropriate posts on social media,” it said. “The staff member, ESE Teacher Oliver Fell, turned herself into the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office last night and was subsequently arrested and charged with a second-degree felony and a third-degree felony. Both felonies have to do with illegal social media communications with a student at our school.”
Nikitopoulos added that Fell “was immediately reassigned to a position away from our school where she had no contact with students,” once the lewd communication was confirmed. She said the school and the district will continue to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
“If anyone has additional information pertaining to this case, please contact the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office at 941-747-3011,” the principal said in her message.
Fell’s case isn’t the first time a teacher has been arrested for inappropriate conduct with a minor student. For example, Audacy reported last spring on a Nebraska teacher who was arrested for having sexual relations with a teen student, as well as another case in Comal County, Texas and one in Keller, Texas. The previous year, Audacy also reported on an Alabama teacher who allegedly had sex with teen boys.