Former teacher found guilty of filming minor

A former Winterpock Elementary School teacher has been found guilty of unlawfully filming a minor and is now listed on the Virginia State Police’s Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry. Steve J. Curtis, 36, who now lives at the Richmond Inn & Suites on Midlothian Turnpike, taught fifth grade at Winterpock until his May 17 arrest. He was put on administrative leave after he was arrested and no longer works for Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS), according to Tim Bullis, director of community relations. 

Curtis Curtis pled guilty and was sentenced in Chesterfield Circuit Court last month to six years in prison with all time suspended on three counts of unlawful filming or photographing of another. According to court documents and the Chesterfield Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, Curtis videotaped a 17-year-old male victim in a bathroom without his permission sometime between April 1 and May 16 this year. Court documents read Curtis “did knowingly and intentionally videotape, photograph or film [the victim], a person under the age of 18, without his consent when he was nude or in a state of undress so as to expose his genitals, pubic area or buttocks while in a bathroom…”

The videotaping did not occur on school grounds, and the victim was not a Winterpock student.

According to a plea agreement, Curtis will be on probation for 20 years, must continue to receive mental health/sex offender treatment and can have no contact with the victim or unsupervised contact with other children until he is released by his probation officer. He also must regularly submit information for the state’s sex offender registry.

Parents and students were told Curtis had a “family emergency” when he suddenly disappeared from his classroom last May. A long-term substitute teacher was brought in to finish the school year.

“We were told that it was a private matter that he didn’t want to be shared with anyone, so we assumed it was a divorce, a sick parent or something like that,” said one parent, whose son was in Curtis’ class last May. She asked not to be identified to protect her son.

“I would have wanted to know back in May, so I could have asked questions of my child, but from a legal standpoint, I don’t know if they [CCPS] could have told us anything,” said the parent.

According to Bullis, legally, school systems cannot immediately fire an employee if an incident such as this happens off school grounds since all persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

“According to state code, when a public school division employee is charged with a felony, she/he can be suspended from her/ his job pending legal disposition. After the case has been adjudicated, the school division then has the opportunity to take appropriate action,” explained Bullis.

Curtis’ employment was officially terminated after his sentencing last month.

Curtis was well-liked by his students, said the unidentified parent.

“He seemed like a very sincere, non-predatory person. He was a very likable teacher. It was the first time my son had a male teacher, and he provided a good male role model. My son did very well, responded to his teaching style and flourished in his class.”

She said her son and his classmates missed Curtis after his sudden departure from Winterpock.

“At the fifth-grade awards ceremony, my son and some of the other kids kept looking for Mr. Curtis. They missed him so much and kept hoping he was going to show up for the ceremony at the last minute.”

The parent planned to have a serious discussion with her son about his former teacher last weekend.

“Now we need to have a conversation with our child to find out if he knows anything because if he’s [Curtis] doing one thing, maybe he could’ve been doing something with others. I’m just stunned by the whole thing.”

Curtis’ defense attorney, Kenneth Chrisman, did not return a call for comment on this story.