'Danger to the community': Former teacher accused of grooming, paying students for 'vicarious sex acts'

DISCLAIMER: This report mentions brief descriptions of “vicarious sex acts” and sexual abuse. News 8 has chosen not to identify the genders of the people involved to protect their identities.

CENTER, Ind. (WISH) — A judge in Howard County on Tuesday deemed a former high school teacher a “danger to the community” after he was accused of grooming and paying students for “vicarious sex acts.”

Charles Jansen, 53, was arrested and charged with vicarious sexual gratification with a child under 14 on Sunday. Jansen formerly taught at Taylor High School in Howard County, but was terminated in 2011.

Court documents obtained by News 8 show in April 2023, one of Jansen’s former students, now 32, spoke with police regarding Jansen.

The student told detectives that from 2006 to 2008, Jansen taught as their language arts teacher and yearbook coordinator. During that time, they were subjected to Jansen’s grooming and forced to perform vicarious sexual acts to “satisfy Jansen’s paraphilic and masochistic sexual desires.”

The probable cause affidavit defines Jansen’s “desires” as sexual disorders in which someone derives pleasure in ingesting bodily fluids and being humiliated or degraded.

Investigators believe Jansen’s acts include paying the former student for:

Their old clothes
Them to wrestle and put Jansen in holds
Them to spit on Jansen’s food
Them to call Jansen derogatory names
Bottles filled with bodily fluids

The student told detectives that Jansen kept receipts of each “transaction.”

The student said the relationship with Jansen continued after graduation and college, and through the student’s marriage. The student said Jansen also had a friendship with their child, which rose concerns that the child may have been abused, too.

The student’s relationship with Jansen ended in December 2022.

Court documents say the end came after the student spoke to their ex-spouse about the abuse they endured. The ex-spouse then “went on a campaign to expose Jansen for his abuses, and in doing so, learned of three other victims who were subjected to the same abuses by Jansen.”

Investigators spoke with one other student, who reported Jansen’s behavior in 2011 as a junior in high school. They experienced the same abuses from Jansen, and showed investigators inappropriate texts Jansen sent them.

Jansen was fired from Taylor High School in 2011. The Howard County Prosecutor’s Office did not file charges against him after reviewing the report.

In July 2023, a third person not identified in court documents spoke about Jansen with Howard County Department of Child Services. They said from February 2019 to May 2022, Jansen regularly took them to movies, walks through a park, and to dinner. Jansen would make them “fill cups with urine” while in the park, and also kept receipts of the outings.

Investigators say in April 2023, someone confronted Jansen at his place of work, the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Kokomo, and asked him about the abuse.

This conversation with Jansen was recorded.

Jansen didn’t deny any of the accusations in the recording, only said “he was sorry for how he made (redacted) feel and that he changed.” Court documents say he also admitted to having three or four juveniles “put semen in bottles for him,” but claimed they weren’t students.

He was not listed as an employee with the church as of Tuesday.

Jansen was taken into custody on Sunday. He was being held at the Howard County jail on a $30,000 bond.

Jansen appeared in court Tuesday for an initial hearing. A Howard County judge said she believed Jansen was a “danger to the community,” overriding an assessment that he was “low risk.”

His trial was set for September 10.

News 8 has reached out to the St. Patrick Catholic Church for comment.

Statement from Taylor Community School Corporation

Charles Jansen, an employee of Taylor Community School Corporation (TCSC) was immediately placed on administrative leave August 22, 2011, and the Indiana State Police were notified after the district was made aware of his questionable conduct with a minor. Jansen was never allowed to return to the campus.

Following the legal due process protocol for a licensed teacher (policy # 3431) an internal investigation revealed conduct which would have resulted in immediate termination. However, because Jansen tendered his resignation on September 14, 2011, during the course of the investigation, the district was left with no additional recourse leaving it in the hands of legal authorities.

In response, however, TCSC has taken a number of proactive steps to prevent similar deplorable incidents: the superintendent reported the teacher to Indiana Department of Education’s licensing division, administration notified a potential future employer of Jansen’s behaviors and the investigation surrounding him, and multiple safeguards have been enhanced or established for the protection of our students. Those include, but are not limited to: child abuse training for all staff, “See Something. Say Something” signage with a direct number to the superintendent’s cell phone, and the use of apps and Google classroom to safeguard teacher-student communication.

Taylor Community Schools sincerely hopes that through all of this, the innocent victims who were abused by Jansen, or anyone else in a position of power, are provided with the help, healing and recovery time they need. Our hearts go out to those who were affected.

Parents are encouraged to be observant of grooming behavior which can occur online and off, and to discuss the dangers and signs with their children. Resources for parents are available at:

25 Signs of Child Grooming and Abuse Parents Should Recognize – FamilyEducation

Online grooming: what it is and how to protect your child | Internet Matters

Grooming: Know the Warning Signs | RAINN

How to Recognize the Sexual Grooming of a Minor | Psychology Today

Steve Dishon, Superintendent of Taylor Community School Corporation