Culpeper High School math teacher accused of soliciting student

A Culpeper County, Virginia, high school math teacher was arrested Wednesday after being accused of soliciting a former student for “sexy” pictures, according to the county sheriff’s office.

Stephen Kirsch, 31, of Bristow, was taken into custody after one of his former students alerted the  authorities.

According to the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office, Kirsch started the conversation with the former student May 25 over social media. He suggested an exchange of “sexy” pictures between the two and made several sexually suggestive and inappropriate comments, officials said.

The student then contacted Culpeper High School administrators to report Kirsch, who has been a teacher at the school for six years.

Kirsch is charged with using a communications system for the purposes of soliciting a person under 18 with lascivious intent.

“We’re very thankful that the victim quickly contacted school authorities to report the incident. Once again, the school officials have worked well to assist our detectives through this investigation,” Sheriff Scott Jenkins said in a release.

“There may have been other similar incidents involving this suspect and we hope that those persons will feel comfortable coming forward to be heard. Thank you again to the victim for your courage and to our school administrators for your continued good work.”

Kirsch was released on a $5,000 bond.

Will Vitka

William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.

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