Former Lamar student teacher who sexted nude photos to middle school boys sentenced to four years in prison

 

A former Lamar student teacher pleaded guilty Thursday morning to sex charges involving underage boys and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Emily Edison, 39, Golden City, was charged with two counts of possessing child pornography, three counts of sexual misconduct involving a child by indecent exposure and one count of enticement of a child.

Edson was sentenced to four years on each count with the sentences to run concurrently.

The charges against Edson were in connections with incidents occurring at Lamar Middle School in 2017.

Though the case had been sent to Vernon County Circuit Court on a change of venue, Judge David Munton conducted Thursday's hearing at the Barton County Courthouse in Lamar.

The initial arrest of Edson, who was a senior at Missouri Southern State University at the time, came less than two months after she received the top award for middle school education from the School of Arts and Sciences during the annual Academic Achievement Ceremony.

The probable cause statement says a student was interviewed who said his teacher, Edson, "had asked him to have sex with her several times, would speak 'sexually.' to him and had sent him a nude photo.

The 2017 probable cause statement indicated that while executing a search warrant on Edson's phone, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force uncovered photos depicting two naked underage boys either having anal intercourse and simulating the act.

The search was in connection with a separate Lamar Police Department investigation that eventually led to the new charges.