Iowa City Regina teacher charged with sexually exploiting student in DeWitt

An Iowa City Regina Catholic High School teacher was released from jail on $10,000 bond Wednesday after being charged in connection with allegations that he groomed and had sex with an underage student he taught while at Central DeWitt High School in Clinton County,

An Iowa City police investigator arrested Cody LaKose, 37, and escorted him from the school Tuesday to police headquarters, where he was turned over to DeWitt police. He was charged with felony and misdemeanor counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual exploitation by a school employee.

The Clinton County Sheriff's Office issued a no-contact order between LaKose and the alleged victim.

The Quad-City Times reported that LaKose resigned from DeWitt at the request of school officials halfway through the 2018 school year. According to his since-deleted LinkedIn page, he then taught science at Cedar Rapids schools for over a year before being hired at Regina in a similar role in August 2020.

LaKose's faculty profile is no longer available on Regina's website and he has been placed on administrative leave, according to the school.

Criminal complaint says former student worried LaKose might be victimizing others

A criminal complaint said an investigation of LaKose began in March 2022 after a woman told police he had groomed her and had a sexual relationship with her starting in spring 2017 while she was one of his students at Central Dewitt. The complaint said she accused LaKose of kissing her and engaging in oral sex and sexual intercourse with her in his school office.

The complaint said she feared Lakose could be targeting and grooming students in his current teaching position. It said she also provided police copies of several email alerts indicating LaKose had sent her direct messages on Twitter under the username @mrLaKose that were sexual in nature. The messages corroborated what she told police, the complaint said.