A now-fired Indian Trail High School and Academy (ITA) teacher was sentenced today to ten years in prison for a sexual relationship with an 15-year-old male student at his school. Nathan R. Gardner, 28, of Racine kept his head down in shame for most of the proceedings.

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Gardner was originally charged with five felonies and faced 97 years in prison. The charges were Possession of Child Pornography, Child Enticement, Use of a Computer To Facilitate a Child Sex Crime, Exposing a Child to Harmful Material, and Exposing a Child to Harmful Descriptions. Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Smathers was quick to dismiss all but a single count of Use of a Computer To Facilitate a Child Sex Crime. This came with it a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

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Before today, 10 letters of support were sent to the judge on behalf of the defendant. They included family and friends, but most interesting, his boyfriend of ten years, Henry Hammond. Hammond wrote, in part:

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“I wholeheartedly stand support of Nathan as he appears before you. I believe that he is genuinely remorseful for his actions and his committed to making amends and learning from this experience. If given the chance, I believe Nathan would earnestly seek reconciliation with those he has affected and have not been able to reach out to…”

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The victim, who was 15 at the time of the crime is 17 now, was in court today. He asked the court for leniency for Gardner. He said in a letter to the DA’s office, in part:

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“I was more mature and older looking than most people in school, so I do not blame him for being attracted to me. Even though I was young, I was 6 feet tall my freshman year and had the stature of a grown man…He resisted, however I pursued… I fell in love with him for that very reason…I knew exactly what I was doing and what I wanted. The worst I hope will happen to Nathan is that he is on the [Sex Offender List] list, and he cannot work with children anymore. Nathan is a good man, and I know he never meant any harm.”

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Then, alarmingly, the victim’s mother, Danielle Brewer, spoke and like her son, asked for no prison time, saying, in part:

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“I started being sexually active when I was 14 years old and always with older men. I knew exactly what I was doing and what I wanted. I would have never wanted those men to get into trouble for something…The only reason I told “Freddy” to tell the vice principal at his school everything about what happened between Nathan and him when this came up is because I wasn’t sure if Nathan was a terrible pedophile that manipulated and had sex with young children. We never thought it would go this far.” The mother told the court that her 15-year-old son was “not a victim.” She thought it was OK that her 15-year-old son that was a student, and a 27-year-old teacher having a sexual relationship and exchanging nude photos was OK. “The [news] made it very clear that “Freddy” was the victim, so he had trouble at school, which derailed his future.

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Thankfully, bringing common sense to the mother and victim, Smathers told the court, “There’s a reason we have an age of consent in this country. There’s a reason we don’t let kids make these decisions. And there’s a reason we put it on the adults in our community to make those decisions for them, even if the child is aggressive or seeking this type of attention. It is up to our adults, and particularly our teachers, to shut that down, to report it, to rebut those advances.”

Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Anthony Milisauskas said “As to the facts of the case, what’s disturbing for the court, and it’s been mentioned already, he’s a teacher. The victim’s a student. There is trust in teachers. We send our kids to school. We are under the impression that they’re going to be taught and they’re not going to be in a position of being taken advantage of…The community can’t continue to have individuals or teachers, trying to get victims of their students. That has to stop. And the message has to be clear. You’re going to prison. And you’re going to go to prison for a period of time, an amount of time that you’re not going to be comfortable with.”

With that the judge sentenced Gardner to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of extended release and having to register as a sex offender for 15 years.

According to the criminal complaint:

On October 26, 2023, a Kenosha Police Officer was notified of a potential sex crime involving a staff member at Indian Trail High School in Kenosha. The staff member was identified as the orchestra teacher Nathan Gardner. The officer made contact with a teacher who said she was approached by two of her students who wished to report that their minor friend, “Freddy”, was having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a teacher at the school.

The students didn’t know all of the details, but they told the teacher that Freddy and Gardner met on the “hook-up” site “Grindr.” According to its website, Grindr is the world’s largest “social networking app” for gay, bi, trans, and queer people. They knew that Freddy and Gardner exchanged nude photos and had some sexual contact when Freddy was 14 or 15 years old during his freshman year.

A Kenosha Police detective started an investigation, but learned that the crimes occurred in the Village of Somers. He handed off the case to veteran Detective Daniel Bella with the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department. Bella is a part of the Sheriff’s Department’s sensitive crime division and has a very high conviction rate.

Detective Bella eventually interviewed the alleged victim, Freddy. He disclosed that in the fall of his Freshman year, which was in 2021 when he was 14-15 years old, he downloaded Grindr and created an account which indicated he was 18 years old and included a photo of himself. When men would message him, Freddy would tell them that he was 14/15 years old and they would stop talking to him. However, at one point, an adult male profile without a photograph messaged Freddy. This profile was later determined to be Gardner’s.

Freddy told the Defendant he was 16 years old and Gardner continued to message Freddy. After a while, Gardner asked Freddy for his Snapchat username, which Freddy provided and their communication moved to Snapchat. On Snapchat, Freddy disclosed that he was actually 15 years old. Gardner asked where he went to school and Freddy told him ITA. Gardner then stated that he was 18 years old and a senior at ITA. When Freddy asked the Defendant what his name was, the Defendant told him “Steven Clark.” Gardner never sent Freddy photos of his face.

The two of them eventually began sexting and sharing explicit images. Freddy sent Gardner pictures of himself clothed and nude, including photographs of Freddy’s penis (child pornography). Gardner also sent photographs of himself clothed and nude, including photographs of Gardner’s penis. When Freddy would send nude photographs of himself, Gardner would save these photographs, which detectives know to be a visible notification on Snapchat. When asked about identifying characteristics of Gardner’s body, Freddy knew the Defendant had a tattoo on his thigh.

As far as explicit messages, Freddy stated that he and Gardner would chat about sexual acts and discuss doing those acts with each other, including oral and anal intercourse. Throughout the course of these conversations, the Gardner told Freddy that his name wasn’t “Steven Clark,” but was in fact “Nick.”

In the Spring Semester of 2022, when Freddy was still 15 years old, Freddy provided Gardner his address and asked Gardner to bring him some ice cream from McDonalds. Gardner got Freddy ice cream and drove to Freddy’s house, making sure to park out of view. Freddy went outside and got into Gardner’s vehicle, which Freddy described as a white SUV. Freddy stated that while in the car, they talked for a bit and kissed. This was the one and only time they met in person outside of school. Freddy stated that they did see each other a few times at ITA and talked briefly. It should be noted that Gardner’s classroom at ITA was located in a portion of the building that only students who are in band, orchestra or choir would utilize. Freddy did not take any of those elective classes, which explains why Freddy and Gardner rarely saw each other or ran into each other at school.

Sometime after this face-to-face meeting, Freddy asked Gardner if his name was “Nicholas” and Gardner told him it was “Nathan.” Freddy then asked for the first letter of his last name, and Gardner said “G.” Freddy then obtained his freshman yearbook and began to look at all the “Nathan’s and all the students with a last name starting with “G.” He compared these with a photograph he had saved of Gardner’s partial face, which Gardner sent him via Snapchat. Freddy didn’t find any matches for Gardner in the student section, but kept looking. Eventually, Freddy came across the orchestra teacher “Nathan Gardner” and immediately recognized him as the guy who brought him ice cream and whom Freddy kissed. Freddy immediately confronted Gardner on social media about him being a teacher, but Gardner brushed it off and attempted to continue normal conversation. Freddy unfriended Gardner from his social media accounts.

During Freddy’s Sophomore year, between 2022-2023, Freddy transferred from ITA to another high school and the two of them began messaging again. Freddy stated that it began by Gardner asking Freddy not to tell anyone about what had occurred between the two of them. Freddy told Gardner he would not. As the two of them began messaging again, Freddy began to have feelings for Gardner again. Freddy stated that he got past the fact that Gardner was a teacher.

The two of them then began sexting and sending explicit photographs back and forth again. When Freddy would send Gardner an explicit photograph, Gardner would once again save them. If Freddy asked Gardner to “unsave” the photographs, he would. By the end of Freddy’s Sophomore year, the sexting and sending of explicit images stopped, and they just had normal conversations.

During Freddy’s Junior year, beginning in the Fall of 2023, Gardner continued to message Freddy. Freddy would sometimes respond, but most of the time he would not even open the messages from Gardner. Gardner also attempted to re-add Freddy as a friend on his social media accounts. Freddy showed this to his friend and told his friend that it was the teacher Freddy had been talking to. It should be noted that Gardner was employed as a teacher at ITHSA during the entire time Freddy was in communication with him.

On November 7, 2023, Detective Bella, along with other law enforcement officers, took Gardner into custody at his home in Racine, Wisconsin. On his person was his cell phone, which was seized along with other electronics within the home. Also present was Gardner’s partner. Detective Bella contacted the Kenosha County Jail after Gardner was booked. Gardner disclosed during the booking process that he has a tattoo on his right thigh.

Gardner will be 37 when he is released from prison.