Once-lauded Kentucky teacher sentenced in sexual exploitation of former student
A former Kentucky teacher has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after asking a former student to send him sexually explicit images.
Robert Alan Thompson, 34, must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence and will be under court supervision for 15 years after he is released, according to acting U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett., who announced the sentence this week.
Thompson was a teacher at Bondurant Middle School in Franklin County from 2011 to 2018 and was named middle school teacher of the year during that time, his attorney, Whitney True Lawson, said in a sentencing memorandum.
Thompson transferred to the Hardin County school system, where he was working when he was arrested last year.
The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office began investigating Thompson after finding messages to him from another man, Matthew A. Lyons, while looking into a a concern that Lyons had paid a teenage boy to engage in sexual activity with him.
Lyons admitted possessing and distributing child pornography and soliciting and receiving explicit images from a 16-year-old boy.
His plea agreement said two 14-year-old boys told authorities Lyons paid one of them $70 and one of them $60 to take part in sexual activity with him in his Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck in a store parking lot in Hardin County.
Lyons has not been sentenced.
The investigator, Michael W. Littrell, found evidence on Thompson’s iPhone that in April 2020, Thompson contacted a student he had taught in the 8th grade, who was then a 17-year-old senior, and solicited and received explicit images from the teen, according to the court record.
Lawson, Thompson’s attorney, said there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Thompson toward any student during the time he had them in class.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jo E. Lawless said Thompson’s former student looked to him for advice, and Thompson exploited the teen’s vulnerability.
“He helps drive the child exploitation market,” Lawless said of Thompson. “And, also engages in direct exploitation.”
Thompson pleaded guilty to production of child pornography and online enticement of a minor.
