Red Oak teacher arrested for third time

RED OAK — A long-time Washington Elementary teacher on paid administrative leave may be facing prison time after his third arrest in four months on harassment charges.

Geoffrey Allan Maurer, 39, was arrested April 29 for two misdemeanor charges, third degree harassment and false report to public safety.

According to Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Swanson, Maurer sent several text messages to Alyssa Demanett, 21. Maurer and Demanett had previously been in a relationship that ended in October 2012, but Swanson said despite requests to stop communicating with her, Maurer continued to send text messages.

The false report charge stems from a phone conversation between Maurer and investigating Red Oak police officers in which he claimed the matter had been resolved while urging police to discontinue their investigation.

After contacting Demanett, police discovered no such resolution had been reached and Maurer was arrested as his home at 1400 Highland St.

A June 25 trial date has been set for those two charges and Maurer remains free on a $300 bond.

For Maurer, this marks the third time in 2013 for an arrest on harassment charges.

He was also arrested Jan. 7 and Jan. 28 on separate Adams and Mills County warrants charging him with third degree harassment.

While the Adams County case was dismissed March 6, he was convicted in Mills County, receiving a two-day jail sentence which was suspended for up to a year.

The judge in that case, C. Lyle Mayberry, could reconsider that sentence deferment in light of the Montgomery County case if a probation violation occurred. Mills County officials have already requested and received case information from Swanson regarding the recent incident.

Maurer was previously convicted on a charge of harassment by communication May 21, 2009 in Adams County. He was also found guilty of violating a no contact order that day and received a $65 fine for the two misdemeanor violations.

An Adams County jury also found Maurer not guilty in August 2010 on the charge of assault causing bodily injury.

A search through Iowa online court records also indicate Maurer has been involved in several civil disputes, including two divorces, one in 2009 to Lisa Renee Maurer, 39, and a second in 2010 to Holly Martin, 30.

In the 2009 divorce, Lisa and Geoffrey were granted joint custody of their children, but that order was revised March 18, 2013. At that time, Lisa was granted sole custody while Geoffrey was ordered to pay $500 a month in child support.

Maurer had also filed a petition for relief from domestic abuse March 29, naming Demanett as a defendant. However, according to court records, he failed to appear at an April 8 hearing and the petition was summarily dismissed.

Maurer has taught several years in the Red Oak school district, primarily in the elementary school level, starting at Inman before transferring to Washington.

The diversified learning course he teaches to fourth and fifth grade students at Washington is a Title One remedial reading course, according to school Superintendent Terry Schmidt.

Schmidt said Maurer had been placed on paid leave prior to the most recent arrest. And while the previous two January arrests did occur on school property, Schmidt said there was no resulting classroom disruption.

“I was aware of both situations before they happened so we took every precaution necessary to ensure the learning environment was not compromised,” Schmidt said. “The matter was handled privately in a room segregated from all the students and a substitute was in place to handle the classroom.”

School Board President Lee Fellers said Schmidt had kept him aware of Maurer’s legal issues but that the matter had not been discussed by the board during an official meeting.

However, he said that will probably change.

“I anticipate this will be addressed by the board once Mr. Schmidt and (board attorney) Rick Engel complete their review,” he said.

Schmidt said he didn’t expect that investigation to be completed until the end of May or by early June at the earliest.

Maurer is technically under contract with the school district next year, as contracts are automatically renewed unless otherwise directed by the school board.