Former Ste Gen Administrator Enters Plea in Court

(Ste Genevieve, Mo) - Former Assistant Principal Elizabeth Giesler at Ste Genevieve High School appeared in court and entered an Alford plea to one count of second degree harassment, giving her a two year sentence of unsupervised probation.  

The sentence is only on the condition that she voluntarily surrender all of her teaching credentials.  Because it's an Alford plea, Giesler did not actually admit guilt to the charge, but this type of plea is generally issued when there is potentially enough evidence to find a person guilty, should a case get to a trial.  

Giesler was charged in May 2018 with three counts of Class E Felony sexual contact with a student, three counts of second degree statutory sodomy, and two counts of second degree statutory rape, after an investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.  

The charges stemmed from a victim that was a 16-year-old male student, that had apparently been staying with Giesler and her family at their residence.  A friend of the victim reported to school officials that the male student had said he had sexual contact with Geisler, in the form of sex and sexual acts over the course of April and May, 2018.

A jury trial was originally supposed to take place in April, but a plea bargain was accepted where Giesler pleaded to second-degree harassment and give up her four teaching certifications, instead.