A former Soldotna teacher arrested for sexual abuse of a minor has been newly indicted on 61 counts by a grand jury.
Nathan Erfurth was a Soldotna High School teacher and later, at the time of his arrest, president of the local teacher’s union. This spring, a former student told Soldotna police that the two had a sexual relationship while she was a minor. Police obtained a warrant to record a conversation between her and Erfurth, during which he acknowledged their sexual relationship, an affidavit says.
Erfurth was arrested on the basis of just two charges in May. But on June 28 a grand jury handed down the additional charges, which were filed in Kenai Superior Court.
The majority of those charges, 42 of them, are for second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, which involves sexual penetration of a 16 or 17-year-old by an adult who is at least three years older and holds a position of authority over them. The indictment says Erfurth and the alleged victim would meet up to have sex at her home, at a small house on Erfurth’s property and in his classroom at Soldotna High School.
Seven charges are for fourth-degree sexual abuse of a minor, relating to sexual contact, rather than penetration. The grand jury handed down an additional six charges for possession of child pornography, which, according to the indictment are related to photos and videos of the alleged victim shared through the encrypted messaging app Signal and secure file storage service Mega.
Erfurth was released into house arrest and under the supervision of two third-party custodians in June. His next court appearance is a new arraignment scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Kenai.
