Missouri schoolteacher arrested after ‘using Grindr to get lap-dance from juvenile’
LGBT+ dating app Grindr (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty)
A Missouri teacher was arrested after allegedly using Grindr to get a lap-dance from a juvenile.
Richard Ives, who teaches fine arts at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, was pulled over in a routine traffic stop on June 13 when an officer noticed an underage boy in his car.
The teacher admitted to paying the boy for a lap-dance when police discovered two $20 bills in the boy’s pockets, reported the Kansas City Star.
Ives took the boy to a commuter parking lot, it is alleged, after picking him up on a street corner in Bloomsdale.
Rich Ives (Missouri Police)
Lisa Lyle, the school’s head, said: “Mr. Ives has been placed on leave from his job as Camp Director and as Art Teacher; he will not be allowed back on campus during the pendency of any charges and until an investigation has been completed.
“We are in communication with law enforcement and continue to gather facts.”
The boy involved, who is around 14 years of age, is not a student at the school, said Lyle.
He was incoherent when the car was pulled over, police said, but told police that Ives had paid him $200 to meet with him.
(Photo: Mary Institute and Saint Louis Day School)
Ives has now been charged with enticement of a child, patronising prostitution 14 years of age and younger, sexual misconduct of a child under 14 and second-degree statutory sodomy.
He is out on a bond of $50,000, which he has posted.
Investigating officials say the teacher met the boy through Grindr, before enticing him to meet.
You need to be 18 and over to use the dating and hook-up app.
However, there have been many cases of men using the app to illegally solicit sex from underage boys.
