Police are investigating and the Whittemore-Prescott Area School district is reeling today after their high school band teacher completed suicide after releasing a list of boys he said he sexually abused.
Ben Thorp reports.
In his email to coworkers on Sunday, 24-year-old Kevin Schutte was remorseful, saying he hoped someone would contact his victims and work quote “undoing my damage once I’m gone.”
Arenac county Undersheriff Don McIntyre says school officials contacted police immediately after the email went out.
“In that email there was some admissions that he may have possibly sexually assaulted up to 15 boys prior and listed that as the reason he was now suicidal.”
McIntyre says police are currently working to identify and reach out to the victims listed in Schutte’s email.
School officials at both Whittemore-Prescott Area Schools, where Schutte has worked since August, and Clare Public Schools, where he was a student teacher for a few months last year, say none of their students were named in Schuette’s email.
Joe Perrera is the Superintendent with Whittemore-Prescott Area Schools. He says Schutte easily passed a background check.
“There were absolutely zero red flags. There was just, I think, a traffic violation of some sort.”
Perrera says social workers and counselors have been made available to speak to both students and staff about the incident.