TREMONT - A Lancaster County man who served as a teacher in the Pine Grove Area School District waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday on charges he tried to get a teenage student to have sexual intercourse with him.
Matthew R. Pfautz, 29, of Blue Jay Drive, Stevens, appeared briefly before Magisterial District Judge Carol A. Pankake and was allowed to remain free on 10 percent of $10,000 bail pending further action in Schuylkill County Court.
State police Trooper Chad Smith of the Schuylkill Haven station charged Pfautz with corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor.
The charges against Pfautz stem from incidents involving a 17-year-old girl at the Pine Grove Area High School in Pine Grove borough between Sept. 11, 2011, and May 30, Smith said.
During that time period, Smith said Pfautz, both in person and via text messaging, enticed the teenager to perform sexual acts with him both in and out of the school building. Pfautz, who was an English teacher at the high school, also made lewd comments to the teen as well as sending her lewd text messages, Smith said.
Smith said the telephones of Pfautz and the teen were seized and examined revealing that Pfautz sent 26 text messages to the teen while the teen sent 13 text messages to him.
One of the messages Pfautz sent to the teen while both were in school and the girl was wearing a skirt.
Referring to the skirt, Smith said Pfautz texted the girl saying she looked "super hot."
On another occasion, Smith said Pfautz texted the teen, again during school hours, saying "Diggin' those sweats today."
The trooper said that Pfautz also texted the teen saying "OK cool, do you still want to get together sometime?"
As the investigation progressed, Smith said the victim provided troopers a print-out showing cellphone calls from March 12 to May 15 that included 168 messages from the teen to Pfautz and 234 messages from the man to the girl.
Smith said a warrant was obtained for Pfautz arrest and that man later surrendered.