What did Kelsey Meta Boren do? Details explored as former Oregon elementary school teacher sentenced to prison

(image via Kelsey Meta Boren/ Instagram)
Boren claimed she was mentoring an 11-year-old drag queen (image via Kelsey Meta Boren/ Instagram)

On April 24, 2023, Oregon authorities announced that 31-year-old former elementary school teacher Kelsey Meta Boren has been sentenced to 11 months in jail for child abuse. According to the Lane County Sheriff's Office, Boren was convicted of uploading inappropriate footage of children online.

Court documents state that after she serves 11 months, she will be prohibited from interacting with anyone under the age of 18. She will also face five years of probation. She will also have to register as a s*x offender.

Trigger warning: This article concerns child abuse, the reader's discretion is advised.

According to DNYUZ, Kelsey Meta Boren claimed to be mentoring an 11-year-old who performs in drag. After the allegations against Boren surfaced, one of the 11-year-old's events was canceled as protestors stood outside the venue where they were supposed to perform. The 11-year-old's family has denied that Boren was a mentor to the child, as she claimed. Boren has not publicly spoken about the allegations.


The allegations against Kelsey Meta Boren

According to the Lane County Sheriff's Office, Kelsey Meta Boren was arrested in August 2022. Prior to her arrest, she was photographed with an 11-year-old drag queen who performed under the name Vanellope MacPherson DuPont. Boren and Vanellope were scheduled to perform together at Old Nick's Pub in Eugene, Oregon, in October 2022. A spokesperson from the bar noted that, in light of protests, the show had since been canceled.

The post read:

"(Vanellope Macpherson DuPont) is here to show you what an 11-year-old drag queen can do.”

While authorities did not disclose how they discovered Kelsey Meta Boren had been uploading inappropriate footage of children online, they said that they found evidence of the crime after searching the home of the elementary school teacher. After her arrest, she was suspended from the school district and barred from school grounds and from having any contact with her former students.

Vanellope's parents also said that they cut ties with Boren after the incident. They added that while Boren claimed to be Vanellope's mentor, the 11-year-old had only met the older drag queen a handful of times.

In a statement, Vanellope's family said:

“Meta-Boren was not a family friend, nor was she ever a mentor for V in the drag world. They, also, have not had any contact since before Covid, and all ties have been severed as of the time of Meta-Boren’s arrest in August.”

After the arrest, protestors supposedly gathered outside the Old Nick's Pub with weapons in an attempt to stop Vanellope's performance. The owner of Old Nick's Pub said that the protests were driven by bigotry, implying that the LGBTQ+ community should not be punished for Boren's actions.

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