KOKOMO, Ind. -- A former teacher at Taylor High School in Kokomo has been charged after he reportedly groomed multiple students in the mid-2000s and early 2010s.
He reportedly paid them to pee and ejaculate in bottles, spit in his drinks and give him their used clothes and shoes, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Court documents filed on Monday in Howard County show 54-year-old Charles Jansen has been charged with one count of vicarious sexual gratification, a Level 4 felony. Officials with the Indiana State Police said that Jansen was taken into custody on Sunday without incident.
In April 2023, a former student at Taylor High School came to the Peru Post of the Indiana State Police for an interview surrounding allegations about Jansen. Jansen, who was a language arts teacher at the high school, reportedly groomed the student to perform "certain vicarious sexual related acts for money... to satisfy Jansen's paraphilic and masochistic sexual desires."
During the interview, the former student said counseling helped uncover the impact that Jansen's alleged actions had on him. After counseling, the student's family alleged that similar conduct reportedly occurred between Jansen and multiple other students.
The court documents detail alleged instances between Jansen and a couple of students. In one case, Jansen reportedly began to show interest in a sophomore in around 2006, offering to help him in the college application process.
After having multiple conversations with the student about football, and allowing him to hang out in his classroom, Jansen reportedly offered the student money to sell him his old jerseys and shoes. Jansen would also reportedly ask the student, whom he called "Masta," to "smash his sandwich and spit in his drinks for money."
In addition to those requests, Jansen, who requested that the student call him a "B----," also offered the student $5-10 to urinate in bottles for him. In some cases, Jansen would ask the student to urinate after he had sex, telling the student that "there would be traces of semen in the urine."
After each transaction, Jansen would require the student sign a receipt, something the student said did not know the purpose of, according to the documents. This is something that was featured multiple instances with multiple students.
An additional student reported similar instances to the Indiana State Police in 2011. The documents said that the student reported the behavior to school administrators, specifically the requests surrounding Jansen reportedly asking him to urinate in bottles, which reportedly led to Jansen's termination. No criminal charges were filed at that time, however.
In April 2023, an individual reportedly confronted Jansen at the St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Kokomo, Jansen's place of employment at the time. The documents said that the individual recorded the conversation and confronted Jansen about the following reported sexual behaviors:
- Urine and semen in bottles for money
- Providing shoes to Jansen so "he could lick them clean."
- Spitting in Jansen's drink
- Chewing up food and spitting it back in the wrapper so Jansen could eat it
- Signing the receipt for items Jansen purchased so Jansen could keep track of who he bought the item for.
- Urinating in a crock pot.
"Jansen did not deny any of the accusations," the court documents said. "He made statements saying he was sorry for how he made (the student) feel and that he had changed. (The individual) asked how many young men had reached the level of putting semen in bottles for him. Jansen replied probably three or four, but clarified not while they were students."
Officials with the Indiana State Police said that Jansen reportedly has a "sexual paraphilic and masochistic disorder." The court documents said that Jansen "derives sexual pleasure/gratification from ingesting urine and semen" and that he "desires to feel humiliated and degraded."
Gregory Laker, a partner at Cohen & Malad, LLP who leads the firm’s sexual assault practice group, said Jansen’s alleged grooming of victims in multiple school systems over a number of years is all too common.
"It’s sickening but unfortunately it happens far too often," he said. "We find that sexual predators like Mr. Jansen tend to find positions that allow them to work with children to give them access to satisfy their urges and their abhorrent behavior and that’s exactly what happened here."
Laker said he could not get into any specifics on the number of victims who are coming forward. But he said that this has probably been happening for more than two decades. Now, Laker believes that the community will be protected, now that he was arrested.
"I think the biggest thing is it's going to protect dozens and dozens of future victims that had they not come forward and obviously the charges got filed, this guy would continue doing it and would continue preying on kids," he said.
Laker encourages other people who were impacted by Jansen to come forward.
"My advice is there is strength in numbers. They are not the only one reporting now, so they should feel comfortable that they will be believed because other people are reporting similar things like Mr. Jansen," he said. "You don't need to be afraid. You will be believed. You can speak out and people will listen."