Sioux City Journal

Former school aide pleads guilty to sexual exploitation

By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer | Posted: Wednesday, March 07, 2007

A former Boyden-Hull Community School teacher's aide has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a student.

Kelly Cuperus pleaded guilty Monday in Sioux County District Court to one count of sexual exploitation by a school employee.

Cuperus, 39, of Hull, Iowa, was arrested and charged a year ago with having sexual contact with a teenage male student.

She initially was charged with two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, three counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee and three counts of lascivious conduct with a minor.

As part of a plea agreement, Cuperus pleaded guilty to the single charge, a Class D felony. At sentencing, the state will recommend that the statutory five-year prison sentence be suspended and Cuperus be placed on probation. She also will be required to register as a sex offender on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 18 in Orange City.

"The (Iowa) Attorney General's Office believes the plea and plea agreement are an appropriate disposition based on the facts of the case and the best interests of the victim," Attorney General spokesman Bob Brammer said in a news release.

The Attorney General's Office prosecuted the case at the request of former Sioux County Attorney Melissa O'Rourke.

In the plea agreement, Cuperus pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual conduct with a student between May 1, 2005, and March 15, 2006.

She was accused in court documents of having sexual contact with a boy identified as John Doe at least 20 times during a 10-month period when the boy was age 15 and 16. According to court documents, Cuperus had sex with the teen at least twice.

Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.

Story Comments

Tina wrote on Dec 11, 2007 4:42 PM:

" OK, so obviously there is nothing we can do about her punishment because we arent the government and dont have any say in it but,we all have our right to our own opinion,on the other hand,my opinion is the fact.. I know that when a 37 yr. old lady is molesting, or having a sexual relationship with a 15 yr. old "KID!" Perhaps nobody should be making excuses for this supposed "GROWN WOMAN." If she were a grown woman she would have known not to even think of haveing any kind of sexual relationship with a minor, and there is absolutely no excuse for this behavior,yes she may be nice,yes she may go to church,yes she may have custody of her kids.. that doesnt make any of this right, and doesnt make her a "great" person as some of you say! As for her ex- husband Lynn, hes a great man and deserves so much better. We all know she got off the hook alot easier than what she should but in my "OPINION," what goes around comes around. And one day she will get what she diserves, and so will Lynn with the happiness he desrves. "

marv wrote on Mar 21, 2007 8:46 AM:

" My wife did that to me I'd get drunk and angry too. "

Grief... wrote on Mar 21, 2007 8:13 AM:

" I know that when something like this happens to someone it does change them. People have to understand that person does NOT want to change. It is the stress, the accusations, the loss of a job Im sure she loved, the loss of feeling like she had no choice but to be a different person. If you go to counselors/drs. you will find out that this person changed because the whole life she worked & lived for changed in one day. You can not judge unless you have lived, what a person lives with, when they are falsely accused. If anyone is a good friend they will understand & learn what she is dealing with. Im sure she has found who her true friends are. Thats what usually happens in these cases. Thank You "

to question wrote on Mar 20, 2007 10:31 PM:

" Lawrence has lots of money at his disposal and he had like 5 years to read law books, he found a glitch in our wonderful justice system and got off on dumb case that stated if you molest by deception you are not a sexual preditor (makes no sense to me) how can you not molest a child other than by deception. "

GOOD GRIEF wrote on Mar 20, 2007 10:26 PM:

" First off Kelli was a church leader she was a jrhigh RCYF leader and for the one who said she teaches Kellis' kids I do not believe you. Kelli and Lynn have made some terrible choices in the destruction of the marriage that is both of them. I happen to know that Kelli did not have intercourse with that miserable VANTILBURG kid. Kelli did make wrong choices in talking and text messages. Kelli has changed a lot in the past year but under the circumstances I do not know how I would have reacted. I do feel bad because this incident has hurt a lot of people included her very close friends. Kelli is not in the same catagory as Lawrence vanpervert, he was a not out of the closet molester who liked to milk his victims. That is the difference. "