Former Missouri substitute teacher gets 10 years for trading students money, drugs for sex

A former substitute teacher in Missouri was sentenced to ten years in prison on Wednesday after she was accused of giving students money, alcohol and drugs in exchange for sex.

Carissa Jane Smith, 31, of Dixon, was arrested last November on 19 counts, including statutory rape and sexual contact with a student, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

In September, Smith pleaded guilty to lesser charges of one count of endangering the welfare of a child, and two counts of sexual contact with a student, KRCGTV reported.

Smith worked in the Dixon School District as a paraprofessional and long-term substitute, the district said in a statement following Smith’s arrest last year. She resigned in August 2024.

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Smith would offer students money, marijuana and alcohol to students in return for sex or to allow her to perform oral sex, the sheriff’s office said in a probable cause statement.

Smith would allegedly meet with the victims at isolated places or while her husband was away for work.

Victims told investigators that Smith would have sex with them at her home or other locations "such as gravel roads or on the side of the road," the sheriff’s office said. One victim said Smith asked him to have sex with her when he was in middle school.

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The victims told investigators that Smith told them not to tell anyone about their encounters or else she could get into trouble.

One victim said Smith’s husband threatened them with a baseball bat after she told him they were trying to blackmail her with a video of her smoking marijuana with students, USA Today reported, citing the probable cause statement.

Smith’s sentence includes 6 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for the charge of endangering the welfare of a child, and two years each for the sexual contact charges.

Trump says Dems who told military to defy illegal orders committed 'sedition at the highest level'

President Donald Trump on Saturday purported that Democrats who urged the military to defy illegal orders engaged in "sedition at the highest level" and "should be in jail right now."

This comes after one of the lawmakers who appeared in the video calling on troops to ignore unlawful orders, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, was targeted with a bomb threat just days after the clip and Trump's subsequent statements suggesting the Democrats be executed.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump argued that the "traitors" who appeared in the video "should be in jail right now, not roaming the fake news networks trying to explain what they said was OK."

"It wasn't, and never will be!" he claimed. "It was sedition at the highest level, and sedition is a major crime. There can be no other interpretation of what they said!"

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Trump initially responded to the video message by saying, "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" He also shared a post from another account that said, "Hang them George Washington would."

The White House and the president himself later attempted to walk back his comments, saying he did not wish to execute the Democrat lawmakers.

In another post on Saturday, Trump alleged that "many great legal scholars" agree with his position that "the Democrat traitors that told the military to disobey my orders, as president, have committed a crime of serious proportion!"

Slotkin, who previously worked at the CIA and Defense Department, shared the video on Tuesday of herself and other Democrat lawmakers who formerly served in the military and intelligence community encouraging troops and members of the intelligence community to ignore illegal orders from officials.

"This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens," the lawmakers said. "Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats coming to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution."

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Other lawmakers in the video included Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, as well as Reps. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Jason Crow of Colorado.

Trump administration officials and other Republicans criticized the video, which affirms that refusing unlawful orders is a standard part of military protocol.

Slotkin's office said on Friday that police responded to her Michigan home following a bomb threat, but that she was not home at the time.

U.S. Capitol Police told her that she would have security at all hours of the day.

"We’ve got law enforcement out in front of my house," she told MS Now. "It changes things immediately. And leadership climate is set from the top. And if the president is saying you should be hanged, then we shouldn’t be surprised when folks on the ground are going to follow suit and say even worse."

The lawmakers in the video have vowed not to back down despite the threats.

"What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty," they said in a joint statement on Thursday.

"In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated," the statement added.

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