Convicted sex offender allowed to volunteer at Iowa schools

WELLMAN, Iowa – A former Iowa teacher purged from the state’s sex offender list has been allowed to volunteer at an eastern Iowa school district.

The Des Moines Register reports that Trent Yoder has been helping out in the Mid-Prairie schools district, which is based in Wellman. The district granted him special permission to volunteer, after receiving letters of support.

Superintendent Mark Schneider says he has informed school principals that Yoder must be with another adult at all times.

Yoder had pleaded guilty to exploiting a minor at an Anita school by videotaping a high school athlete changing her clothes in 1998. Court records say he served a few weeks behind bars and then four years of probation. He was removed from the sex offender registry after 10 years.

He told the Register that he hates that he “caused so much pain to that community.”

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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com