A former substitute teacher in Florida was arrested after she allegedly showed elementary school students sexually explicit photos.
According to a release from the Lake Wales Police Department, Park Avenue Private Schools called for assistance on November 7 after they learned one of their substitute teachers, Gayle Wessell, 60, had allegedly shown a group of elementary school students the sexually explicit materials.
After police spoke to Wessell on January 7 at a local motel, they searched her phone and allegedly found hundreds of sexually explicit images and videos, many of which included her.
According to detectives, they saw her allegedly trying to delete the images off of her phone. She allegedly admitted to police that she had shown the children the sexually explicit images.
Police also interviewed the students to ask if she had shown them any of the materials on her phone.
After admitting that she showed the students the images, Wessell was arrested on six counts of showing obscene material to minors, according to police.
Wessell reportedly has a criminal history, including trespassing, battery, resisting arrest and criminal mischief charges. It’s unclear how she was able to work as a substitute teacher given her criminal past.
The school fired Wessell after police began investigating her in November.
Police are still looking for more information about the incident, but do not currently believe that there are more victims outside the group of children in the class.
