ST. CHARLES — A sixth grade teacher is charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl for years here and in St. Louis County.
John Warnecke, 52, from O’Fallon, Missouri, has been charged with three counts of statutory sodomy.
Warnecke teaches math and science at Jefferson Intermediate School, on Zumbehl Road in St. Charles, for 18 years and has also worked as a camp instructor for the St. Charles West High School’s baseball camp.
Warnecke and the victim — who is now 19 — first met in January 2020 on an online chatroom before beginning to communicate on the social media site Snapchat.
Mickie Plummer-Shepheard, a spokeswoman for the St. Charles School District, said the district had just learned of the allegations on Tuesday.
“While we don’t have all the details and can’t discuss in-depth information regarding an active legal and personnel matter, we can share with you that we are fully communicating and cooperating with law enforcement officials as they continue their investigation,” district Superintendent Jason Sefrit said in a letter to parents.
Katie Rickerson, a spokesperson for the St. Charles County prosecutor’s office, said the victim was not a former student of Warnecke’s.
Police say the pair first met in-person soon after connecting online. In her interview with police, the victim said that she and Warnecke started meeting every two weeks. She said he would pick her up at her family’s home in St. Peters and drive her to locations in Wentzville, O’Fallon, St. Peters, Maryland Heights and St. Louis County.
In a recorded telephone call with the victim, Warnecke confirmed details about how they met, that she was not 18 years old when they met, and that he would come and pick her up from her family’s house, police said.
Warnecke said on that call “he wishes his head was straight” and that he “should have slapped you away from me,” when they first met in-person, police said.
He said on the call that he stopped meeting and communicating with the victim once she turned 17. But the victim told police that the abuse continued.
After being arrested by police, Warnecke said “he could not decipher how many times it occurred” and that “he felt like he couldn’t stop her.”
Warnecke is being held at the St. Charles County Jail on a $75,000 cash-only bond.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
