Middle School Teacher, Who Paid Students for Sex with Cash, Alcohol and Drugs, Receives Prison Sentence By Raven Brunner

A disgraced Missouri teacher has been sentenced to prison after she was accused of paying her underage students for sex with cash, alcohol and marijuana.

Carissa Smith, a former substitute teacher at Dixon Middle School in Dixon, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Nov. 19, according to local outlet KRCG.

Smith, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual contact with a student and one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child in September, per the outlet. 

Fox News reported that Smith’s sentence includes six years in the Missouri Department of Corrections for the endangering the welfare of a child charge and two years for each sexual contact charge.

Smith originally faced multiple felony charges, including statutory rape, sex trafficking, statutory sodomy, sexual contact with a student, hindering the prosecution of a felony and a charge for patronizing prostitution, according to court records reviewed by PEOPLE.

PEOPLE reached out to the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney on Sunday, Nov. 23, but did not receive an immediate response.

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on Facebook that a warrant was issued for Smith for $250,000 on Nov. 8, 2024. She was arrested four days later and held in the Pulaski County Detention Center.

Several underage students told investigators that they had sex with Smith in exchange for money, according to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by PEOPLE.

Per the affidavit, Smith sent nude pictures of herself on Snapchat to one of her victims before they later had sex. Smith began to have sex with multiple underage students, according to the affidavit, picking them up at their homes and either having sex with them at her own house while her husband was out of town or in her car. 

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Smith later paid several students cash or sent them money via CashApp, the probable cause affidavit states, and also offered the underage children marijuana or alcohol on some occasions. 

The victims told police that Smith would attempt to intimidate them to cover up her actions, per the affidavit. 

“This is very disturbing and distressing information for everyone in our school community,” Dixon R-I School District Superintendent Travis Bohrer wrote in a letter to students’ families after Smith was arrested in November, according to local outlet KY3 and USA Today.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.