Superintendent Charged After Allegedly Confining 6 Students To Strip-Search Them For Vaping Devices

A school district superintendent has been charged in Wisconsin for allegedly confining six students to a small bathroom to strip-search them for vaping devices.

The superintendent of Suring School District, 51-year-old Kelly Casper, of Coleman, was charged Monday with six counts of false imprisonment for the incident that happened on Jan. 18, the district attorney said in a news release, as per The News & Observer.

The district attorney filed charges after six female students complained that Casper ordered them to strip down to their underwear while confined into a small bathroom in the nurse's office as she stood in the doorway. According to the criminal complaint, Casper conducted the strip search on the students following allegations that they vaped in bathrooms.

An initial investigation by the state officials determined that no "strip" searches took place, hence no charges were filed. However, prosecutors have now filed charges for confinement and said the initial investigation focused on the search of the students and not their detention.

"Kelly Casper lacked legal authority to confine the students in a small restroom located off the nurses office located in the Suring School Public School complex," Oconto County District Attorney Edward Burke Jr. said, as per The News & Observer. "The facts and surrounding circumstances lead the State to conclude that the children involved did not consent to be confined."

While the students were held in the bathroom, they were prohibited from contacting their parents and were left with the only option to allow a search by the superintendent or a police officer, Burke added, according to MLive.

"Once the children removed their clothing, any opportunity they had to escape would have subjected them to further shame and embarrassment," the news release noted further.

If convicted on false imprisonment charges, Casper could face a maximum penalty of six years in prison on each count and a $10,000 fine. The court has scheduled her preliminary hearing on March 23.

Meanwhile, some of the parents said they are planning to file a civil lawsuit claiming that their children's Fourth Amendment rights were violated in the incident. The Fourth Amendment rights protect people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.