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Published: 2011-11-09 13:16:00
Updated: 2011-11-10 18:51:19

Raleigh school says ex-teacher might have victimized more students


John Skatrud
John Skatrud
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A Raleigh elementary school is urging parents to talk to their children after learning a former PE teacher convicted of child sex offenses involving two students might have victimized even more.

John Peter Skatrud, 43, who taught at Yates Mill Elementary School from August 2008 to February 2010, is serving 11 to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty in August to four counts of indecent liberties with a minor and five counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

The convictions stem from inappropriate touching and photos that Skatrud took of two 8-year-old girls.

Cris Mulder, a spokeswoman for the Wake County Public School System, said the school had been working with the Wake County District Attorney's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation when it learned that there were additional photos of more students.

The families of three students have been notified, she said, but there were other photos in which children couldn't be identified.

"The school system wants to do everything it possibly can to ensure that any student who was inappropriately photographed by Mr. Skatrud receives the available information and appropriate support," Yates Mill Elementary Principal Ann Marie Johnson wrote in a letter to be sent to parents Wednesday afternoon.

"We are providing this information to you so that you can carefully consider whether you want to discuss this situation with your child to determine whether he/she may have been photographed in an inappropriate manner or otherwise treated inappropriately by Mr. Skatrud during the time he was at Yates Mill," Johnson continued. "It is our hope that this can be done in a manner that will not cause any alarm to your child if none is warranted."

Melanie Shekita, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said it is not unusual for investigators to continue looking into a case like Skatrud's after someone has been convicted.

"We really think it's important to report if they believe crimes have occurred and allow law enforcement to come in and investigate that," Willoughby said. "Once a perpetrator is incarcerated, it gives them a sense of courage that they are willing to come forward when perhaps before they wouldn't."

During Skatrud's sentencing, Shekita said the school had "come to love" him and that he had gotten very close to the victims' families, even driving the girls home from school on many occasions.

"It was easy for him to garner the trust of young children," she said.

Skatrud also coached volleyball at North Carolina State University and for the Capital City Volleyball Club.He also worked at Sanderson High School from February 2004 to June 2008, a Wake County schools spokesman said.


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@pamslaff: WAIT UNTIL YOUR CHILD IS IN A SCHOOL WHERE THERE IS A PERVERTED PEDOPHILE TEACHING THERE!!! THEN WE'LL LISTEN TO YOUR DON'T BASH TEACHERS! HOW ABOUT STOP RAPING AND MOLESTING OUR CHILDREN!!!

STOP putting men in charge of volleyball, soccer, baseball and all girl athletics! JUST STOP! Plenty of women want the job, give it to them!

stop bashing teachers. its a thankless job...thanks to all those who put them down. It is low paying. They have to be teacher, parent, nurse, psychologist and still get no respect. I dont get it!! Sure there are some who should not be teaching, like every profession...there is a rotten apple in every bunch. Help them, support them, and give them the respect they deserve!! I am a parent, not a teacher, I have had a wonderful experience with the teachers we have encountered. Thank you hard working teachers. You are appreciated. This rotten teacher, like rotten policeman, college coach, Dr., priest, pastor, who have abused children are the exception not the rule. Keep them away from society!!!

pedaphiles CAN NOT be "cured", "corrected" whatever term needed. Life in prison for 1st offense is justice. Make prisons according to crimes to be effective. Drug addicts and non violent offenders need rehab type treatment for their crimes. Pedaphiles need castration and life behind bars with no TV or Magazines. (they get excited looking at pics of boys in underwear in ads in the circular). They are sick and can not be reformed...NEVER!!! If someone seems too good to be true...question it.

EVEN WHEN PEOPLE DO COVER UP CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, THE TRUTH ALWAYS ROLL OUT; REGARDLESS HOW LONG IT TAKES. TRUTH WILL COME.

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