"This is twisted": Lake Havasu teacher scandal explained as TikTok controversy leaves parents outraged

Arizona teachers accused of filming explicit content in student
Arizona teachers accused of filming explicit content in student's classroom (Image via Thunderbolt Middle School)

Two Lake Havasu teachers from Thunderbold Middle School and Nautilus Elementary have been terminated from employment. The termination occurred after videos of them filming inappropriate content on school grounds went viral across social media platforms. As a result, students happened to view the viral content, leading to the teachers' expulsion.

According to the Lake Havasu Unified School District Human Resources report, Samantha Peer and her husband, Dillion Peer, were fired on October 31 and November 4, 2022, respectively. The former was from Thunderbolt Middle School and taught eighth grade, while the latter was from Nautilus Elementary and taught fourth grade.

Needless to say, the video enraged parents as well as netizens who saw it, with one person even commenting,

"This is twisted."
Netizen expresses disappointment over educational institution's employee selection (Image via Twitter)
Netizen expresses disappointment over educational institution's employee selection (Image via Twitter)

According to a Lake Havasu student's mother, the footage showed the teachers performing adult acts on the school desks. The video was also promoted on the teacher's TikTok, and Instagram accounts that her students followed.

One of the parents, Kristina Minor, said:

“That was my friend’s daughter’s desk. And she is mortified over the situation. She [the teacher] doesn’t care knowing students have seen her everything and on students’ desks.”

Minor also stated that she watched the explicit content as well, and added:

“I’m a taxpayer. I am not paying these teachers to film p*rnography. They’re being paid to teach our kids, and set high standards for them.”

"No longer works for LHUSD": Lake Havasu school alerts parents about the incident

On Monday, November 7, 2022, an official email was sent to parents from the Thunderbolt administration about students sharing explicit material with each other. The email read:

“The images depicted did not happen during the school day and the person depicted no longer works for LHUSD.”

Thunderbolt Middle School also requested parents to remove explicit content from their children's phones and counsel their children about using technology in an appropriate manner.

Alea Bilski, a parent from the Lake Havasu school district, said she was upset with how the school let parents know about the matter. She revealed that her daughter came home and told her about the teacher, after hearing from faculty members.

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Bilski also stated that Peer's explicit account was being used under an alias. However, the same was linked to her non-alias social media pages, which led to students finding the viral footage.


Ohio high school teacher arrested after taking explicit videos of students

It seems like Lake Havasu is not the only area dealing with concerning behavior from teachers. Justin Foley, a Columbus Alternative High School teacher, was taken into custody after being charged with s*xually exploiting minors and receiving, distributing, and possessing child p*nography.

The teacher reportedly hid his cell phone in angles that could capture inappropriate videos at school and other public localities.

Police arrest teacher who took explicit videos of students (Image via Delaware Police Department)
Police arrest teacher who took explicit videos of students (Image via Delaware Police Department)

Court records revealed that law enforcement was able to catch Foley after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received numerous explicit images of children that were uploaded through Google email accounts.

Investigators were able to catch Foley by tracking his IP address. His email accounts reportedly contained content that was "voyeuristic in nature and appear to have been self-produced."

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Edited by Karishma Rao