A former teacher and coach at Harrison High School who reportedly sent nude pictures of himself to an underage student was able to avoid prison time after completing a plea agreement with prosecutors. Twenty-seven-year-old Lucas Horn was sentenced to six months probation following his guilty plea Aug. 16 to a felony count of tampering with physical evidence and a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
The contributing to the delinquency charge is an amended count after originally being charged with a felony count of sexual indecency with a child, and his trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday. Horn was accused of destroying a cellphone used to communicate with a 17-year-old girl, a former student at Harrison and a ward of state juvenile services.
According to the Harrison Daily Times, the arrest affidavit notes a house parent at the facility where the juvenile was residing was examining the girl’s phone and found nude images on it. The girl then locked herself in a room with the phone and began deleting images and conversations she allegedly had with Horn last September. Those conversations were conducted on Instagram and Snapchat.
When Harrison Police began the investigation, they discovered Horn had allegedly destroyed the cellphone on which he apparently communicated with the girl into the late-night hours of Sept. 14th.
Police say Horn turned himself in on the charges Dec. 14th, even before the warrant was issued for his arrest. He was released after posting $2,500 professional bond, but formal charges were only filed Jan. 4th.
According to official charges against Horn, he exposed himself to the girl, even though he was a mandated reporter of suspected abuse and an assistant football and basketball coach in the school district where he had held a position of authority or trust over the alleged victim.
Charges state Horn destroyed his cellphone “because he did not want the phone’s contents to be known, and he wanted everything in the investigation to be gone.”
Horn joined the Harrison School District in June 2015. He resigned from his position in early December.
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