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Dexter teacher faces sexual charge; pleads not guilty
DEXTER -- A Dexter High School industrial arts teacher, who stepped down from that position in late August, has been formally charged with the Class C felony of having sexual contact with a student and appeared in a Stoddard County courtroom Monday, Oct. 5 to answer the charge.
Marti Pulliam, 37, entered a plea of not guilty in the courtroom of Judge Joe Z. Satterfield and waived arraignment. She is next scheduled to appear in court for a case review on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015. Pulliam is represented by Poplar Bluff attorney, Mark Richardson.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Captain Hank Trout with the Stoddard County Sheriff's office, a meeting between Trout and Dexter Police Department's Det. Capt. Trevor Pulley took place on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, after Pulley reportedly was summoned to Dexter High School concerning a teacher "engaging in sexual contact with an active student at the high school."
Student's account
The male student, who turned 18 in February 2015, told authorities that during the 2014-15 school year, he had had a sexual relationship with Pulliam. The relationship, the student told Pulley, began when Pulliam started texting him regarding school matters. Soon after the student's 18th birthday, he stated, the texting shifted to a "flirting" nature.
The student said that as the texting continued, Pulliam eventually began sending the student nude images of breasts and genitalia, using a social media option called Snapchat. The student, in return, sent Pulliam nude images of his genitalia as well.
The nude photo exchanges reportedly continued into March, and the student told police that following a classroom session one March day, the relationship turned physical when the two "talked and began to kiss."
After several weeks of continuing to exchange nude photos through Snapchat, Pulliam reportedly picked the student up in her vehicle one night and drove to an area "just outside of Dexter," where they engaged in intercourse and oral sex.
The student told authorities that once the relationship became of a sexual nature, the situation "became awkward" and the teacher ceased initiating conversation with him. He told Pulley, however, that when the present school year began, Pulliam sent him another photo and he texted her back.
Pulliam interviewed
On Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, Trout and Det. Sgt. Andy Holden, also with the Stoddard County Sheriff's office, conducted an interview with Marti Pulliam at the Sheriff's office in Bloomfield.
According to Trout, Pulliam admitted during the interview that during the 2014-15 school year between November 2014 and May 2015, while she was employed at Dexter Schools, she did "have an affair with an 18-year-old student," and she identified the student.
Pulliam, according to Trout's statement, said that the relationship began amidst personal problems at home and following an accident in her Industrial Arts classroom that resulted in a student being injured. Pulliam reportedly told the investigators that the student who admitted to having an affair with her "was always there for her" after the other student was injured.
She concurred with the student's account that the relationship began with texting, then "sexting," and then the exchange of nude photos. She also stated that she would often provide transportation to school for the student.
Pulliam also admitted to police that on one occasion sometime in March or April 2015, she met the male student, along with another student on the east side of the city. The two subjects reportedly rode with her in her truck to a more remote area in rural Dexter where Pulliam had sex with the same student she had been sexually active with previously.
Pulliam reportedly told police that after that physical encounter, she and the student agreed to "distance their relationship." She additionally stated that when the 2015-16 year began in August, she was "surprised" that the male subject was scheduled to be in two of her classes at Dexter High School. Dexter Board of Education accepted Pulliams' resignation from the school system on Tuesday, Aug. 25, during an executive session of a special meeting of the board.
According to Missouri Case.net, a warrant for Pulliam's arrest was issued on Monday, Oct. 2. She was arrested by Bernie City Police (as a Bernie resident). She posted 10 percent of her $25,000 bond and was released.
Stoddard Prosecuting Attorney Russ Oliver confirmed late Thursday that none of the standard sexual offenses applied in the case, such as statuary rape, because of the student's age.
"Missouri has criminalized any sexual contact between students and school officials regardless of the students age," Oliver noted.