CAMBY — A warrant has been issued for a Camby man and former local teacher who has been charged with child solicitation as a level 5 felony.
Jacob W. Wessel, 44, is also charged with dealing in a schedule II substance, also a level 5 felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a class A misdemeanor.
As of noon Tuesday, he had not been arrested.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Morgan County Sheriff Cpl. Zachary Dodson, the investigation began around the middle of January with the alleged victim’s mother and stepmother going to authorities due to what they felt were inappropriate text messages between the child, who is under the age of 14, and Wessel.
Wessel had been a robotics teacher at Mooresville Christian Academy (MCA), but he was terminated from his position in December 2024 amid allegations of inappropriate contact with a student.
At the time, MCA Head of School Bruce Peters sent a letter out to parents to “update you on the truth of the reason why Mr. Wessel is no longer at MCA.”
Peters contended that a student presented “some text messages to us that were not sexual in nature, no pictures, nothing criminal,” but the communication with a student violated an agreement administrators had with Wessel following previous allegations “over the years [of] … inappropriate teacher behavior.”
“With these accusations about Mr. Wessel, we put certain measures into action to protect him and MCA,” Peters wrote in his December letter to parents. “One of these measures included no texting a student individually.”
He was thus allegedly fired from MCA in December because “this behavior was a violation of our agreement.”
According to the alleged victim, Wessel allegedly began sending her text messages in September 2024. They ended in mid December.
During that time, some of those messages allegedly dealt with his feelings for the alleged victim.
Wessel allegedly also gave the victim marijuana and Adderall.
According to Dodson, the alleged victim and Wessel’s family are good friends, which caused the girl to become emotional during her interview.
Due to the length of the investigation, charges were not filed until last Thursday, and a warrant was issued the following day.
Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega said this type of investigation takes a lot more time to complete due to the possible evidence that has to be reviewed. He said they have to either prove or disprove what alleged victims or the alleged perpetrator may have told them.
In many cases, much of that evidence can be found on cell phones, he said.
Sonnega said it takes time to be able to review all the possible evidence that may or may not be in a cell phone.
Once it is retrieved, he said, that evidence can go a long way to determining who is telling the truth.
Dodson said there was no evidence the relationship involved physical touching.
Dodson said he had tried multiple times to make contact with Wessel but was unsuccessful.
Anyone with information on his location is asked to call the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office at 765-342-5544.
