Nebraska teacher, 26, facing 20 years in prison for dating high school graduate, 19

[rightwinger]

Exactly, he was playing the waiting game.

He entered a sexual relationship that would be legal for anyone who is not a teacher

 

[JGalt]

LOL....On the 91st day after graduation does all the young women's legs magically part for teachers?

I don't know, ask Unkotare.

He's in a position to know whether that's true or not.

​

 

[martybegan]

Exactly, he was playing the waiting game.

Once a person is an adult, the government's interest with regards to age differences goes bye bye.

 

[odanny]

Once a person is an adult, the government's interest with regards to age differences goes bye bye.

Maybe, but your employer is another matter entirely.

 

[martybegan]

Maybe, but your employer is another matter entirely.

I can see him getting canned, but not criminally charged.

 

[luiza]

So like FAKE NEWS that it should be questioned

 

[jackflash]

The whole country has been overreacting ever since that MeToo movement took place a few years ago.

Where was all this outrage when Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old cousin?

Or the dozens of blatantly-pedophillic popular songs over the years, written about young girls?

And where's all the outrage from the left about Islam, whose so-called "prophet" married a nine year-old girl? They'd never go there for some reason.

2 legal aged adults enter into a sexual relationship & that action is deemed illegal??? I am picking up the unmistakable scent of power & control(PC) professional politick'n on this one for sure.

 

[Dekster]

If I were the judge, I would decree the law unenforceable and find him not guilty. Let the prosecutors try that appeal if they want, but either way, he would still have been found not guilty and be spared the expense of a long appeal.

 

[Muhammed]

Cody Pester, a 6th-grade teacher and high school wrestling coach, is charged with sexual abuse for a relationship with a woman 2 months after she graduated.

• Nebraska schoolteacher Cody Pester, 26, and an 18-year-old female allegedly entered an intimate relationship two months after she graduated from high school.
• 
  
• Pester is now charged with sexual abuse by a school official.
• 
  
• If found guilty at trial, Pester could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison on that charge

In the Spring of 2025, a sixth-grade teacher in Nebraska met a student in his capacity as the high school wrestling coach.

Cody Pester, 26, and the young woman began exchanging texts on May 10, which is the same day she graduated from high school in Palmyra, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

On July 18, 2025, the two decided to enter into an intimate relationship, according to statements made by both Pester and the unnamed female, then 18, contained in the affidavit.

The affidavit states that on Dec. 29, 2025, "Lancaster County investigators were made aware of an allegation of sexual abuse by a school worker."

There is no mention of who tipped off authorities, but a little less than a month after that tip came in, they spoke to the alleged victim in the case.

On Jan. 23, she told investigators that she and Pester "agreed to be in an intimate relationship" two months after she graduated from school.

The affidavit also says that she informed investigators with the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office that she and Pester engaged in intimate relations on "several occasions during the month of July, 2025 and August, 2025."

Apparently there is a 90-day law in NE about strupping a former student that graduated....What's so magical about the 91st day is beyond me.

Folks from there say in NE you are a minor till you are 19.....WTF?

Let's see....She was 18 at the time.
She had graduated.
He is not and was not ever in a position of power over her.

Not Gulity!

This is unconstitutional.

 

[airplanemechanic]

He teaches sixth grade
She has not been at that level in six years

Doesn't matter. He can't mess with ANY students, although she graduated when they were intimate, Nebraska says 90 days after she graduates from high school. If he could have waited to keep it in his pants another 30 days, he'd be scott free. What an idiot.

A college professor can go to prison for dating a college student.

 

[rightwinger]

Doesn't matter. He can't mess with ANY students, although she graduated when they were intimate, Nebraska says 90 days after she graduates from high school. If he could have waited to keep it in his pants another 30 days, he'd be scott free. What an idiot.

A college professor can go to prison for dating a college student.

Makes no legal sense
How can it be a crime for a teacher and legal for everyone else?
She is either of legal age or not

 

[odanny]

Makes no legal sense
How can it be a crime for a teacher and legal for everyone else?
She is either of legal age or not

Because he was in a position of authority, it’s not like he met her at Starbucks

 

[rightwinger]

Because he was in a position of authority, it’s not like he met her at Starbucks

But she graduated HS and he taught sixth grade

 

[odanny]

But she graduated HS and he taught sixth grade

His position is the deciding factor, not the cutoff on age range. It’s pretty obvious that people disagree on how this should be enforced and there is a fine line here.

 

[SweetSue92]

Cody Pester, a 6th-grade teacher and high school wrestling coach, is charged with sexual abuse for a relationship with a woman 2 months after she graduated.

• Nebraska schoolteacher Cody Pester, 26, and an 18-year-old female allegedly entered an intimate relationship two months after she graduated from high school.
• 
  
• Pester is now charged with sexual abuse by a school official.
• 
  
• If found guilty at trial, Pester could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison on that charge

In the Spring of 2025, a sixth-grade teacher in Nebraska met a student in his capacity as the high school wrestling coach.

Cody Pester, 26, and the young woman began exchanging texts on May 10, which is the same day she graduated from high school in Palmyra, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

On July 18, 2025, the two decided to enter into an intimate relationship, according to statements made by both Pester and the unnamed female, then 18, contained in the affidavit.

The affidavit states that on Dec. 29, 2025, "Lancaster County investigators were made aware of an allegation of sexual abuse by a school worker."

There is no mention of who tipped off authorities, but a little less than a month after that tip came in, they spoke to the alleged victim in the case.

On Jan. 23, she told investigators that she and Pester "agreed to be in an intimate relationship" two months after she graduated from school.

The affidavit also says that she informed investigators with the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office that she and Pester engaged in intimate relations on "several occasions during the month of July, 2025 and August, 2025."

Apparently there is a 90-day law in NE about strupping a former student that graduated....What's so magical about the 91st day is beyond me.

Folks from there say in NE you are a minor till you are 19.....WTF?

Let's see....She was 18 at the time.
She had graduated.
He is not and was not ever in a position of power over her.

Not Gulity!

I don't love this personally but I can't see how it's illegal.

If he's not tenured and the district wants to let him go, I get that. But legal recourse? No

 

[SweetSue92]

https://people.com/nebraska-teacher-facing-29-year-sentence-for-dating-high-school-grad-11897678

It looks like Nebraska is trying to prevent teachers grooming a student before they graduate so right after, they're "ready". I get that but it clearly did not happen here. Ridiculous. As a taxpayer I'd be mad to support his imprisonment with my taxes

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Doesn't matter. He can't mess with ANY students, although she graduated when they were intimate, Nebraska says 90 days after she graduates from high school. If he could have waited to keep it in his pants another 30 days, he'd be scott free. What an idiot.

A college professor can go to prison for dating a college student.

The law would not stand on appeal. The law is capricious and arbitrary.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Our high school physics teacher married the head cheerleader at my high school the day after she graduated in the mid 70s. No one blamed him because she was the hottest thing on two legs.

 

[initforme]

18 is awful young to even date, much less carry on romantically.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

18 is awful young to even date, much less carry on romantically.

Shut up Methusaleh! No one cares about your dementia-based opinions. My mother got married at 17, my son married his 18-year-old wife at the age of 18, and my daughter married at 19. Your brain has atrophied so much you do not recognize the real world anymore.