Docs: Greenwood teacher charged for child seduction
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — A Greenwood High School teacher is facing felony charges after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an underage student.
Matthew Hockersmith, 40, faces three counts of child seduction by a child care worker. Hockersmith, a science teacher and cross country coach at the school, was placed on administrative leave Monday. He was arrested on the same day. On Tuesday afternoon, the Greenwood Community School Corporation said it is initiating the process to terminate Hockersmith.
According to court documents, police began investigating Dec. 7 after receiving information regarding a “possible inappropriate digital and personal communication” between Hockersmith and a Greenwood High School student. Greenwood police spoke with the girl’s parents on Dec. 8. On Dec. 13, detectives acquired the girl’s phone for a forensic examination.
Detectives said they reviewed messages where Hockersmith and the student refer to each other as husband and wife. They also exchanged nude photographs, according to court documents.
In interviews with detectives, Hockersmith and the student admitted to having sex.
“I asked if the sexual encounters were consensual between her and Hockersmith,” court documents state. “She said that internally she didn’t want to, but she told Hockersmith yes when they had sex.”
According to court documents, they told detectives they had sex in Hockersmith’s vehicle and at his residence. Detectives asked the student if anything physical happened on school grounds. She stated that they had been making out in his classroom “every day, and had been doing so for sometime,” according to court documents. She told investigators the relationship began in October.
Online court records do not yet list an initial court date for Hockersmith.
