Schools

Teacher Who Confessed to Raping Students Worked in Affton

Don Ingerson, charged with raping students in the St. Louis area, taught in the Affton School District at the same time a woman says she was sexually assaulted by him.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 1:40 p.m. to include school district confirmation of Ingerson's employment.

Donald Ingerson—the former St. Louis-area —taught at W. F. Gaunt School from the 1971-72 school year to the 1975-76 school year, according to the Affton School District.

That means Ingerson worked in Affton at the same time a woman says Ingerson sexually assaulted repetedly between September 1974 and January 1976.

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Ingerson's picture appears in the W. F. Gaunt School yearbook from 1975. At that time, the Gaunt School was a ninth-grade center for Affton School District students. The school was located at 8520 Mackenzie Road, where the Village at Mackenzie Place is now.

Affton-Shrewsbury Patch recieved a copy of the yearbook page from Anne Badalamenti, who attended Gaunt at that time.

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"We were all like, 'Oh, ya, we remember that guy,'" Badalamenti said. She and her friends were discussing Ingerson's arrest on Facebook, where she says several of her friends remember Ingerson as a long haired man who was rumored to have had "affairs" with students.

The Affton School District confirmed Ingerson's employment. Superintendent Steve Brotherton also said he had heard from a former employee of the district who recognised Ingerson from working at Affton schools.

Police have not released which school districts Ingerson worked in or which schools his victims attended. However, Patch has confirmed that he worked at , ,  and  schools. 

Ingerson is listed in the 1975 yearbook as being the physical science teacher. Badalamenti and her friends say they remember him coaching the freshman football and wrestling teams.

Ingerson, 67, is charged with one count of rape and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy. He taught in St. Louis County beginning in the 1960s and continuing into the 1990s.

Two victims, both students at the time of the incidents, have been identified so far, though Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said his work in similar cases leads him to think there are others. Both victims are female. Ingerson is suspected of having had multiple sexual encounters with both, McCullough said, the first between September 1974 and January 1976, and the second between Jan. 1, 1995 and Nov. 17, 1996.

Ingerson, who lives in Ely, MN, near the Canadian border, arrived in St. Louis on Sunday and repeated statements about the sexual encounters to police on Monday, McCulloch said. At that time, McCulloch said, Ingerson was arrested.

Ingerson did not appear to realize that the statute of limitations had not expired, McCulloch said.

Both victims have been contacted and have been cooperative. Police previously had not heard of either the victims or Ingerson, McCulloch said. 

McCulloch said Ingerson moved to Minnesota sometime after he retired from teaching.

He is being held in the St. Louis County Jail on a $300,000 cash-only bond.

Other local school districts, including  that he did not work at those schools.

Stay with Affton-Shrewsbury Patch to hear when the Affton School District releases if they find Ingerson's records.


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