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State v. Keith Allan Krikstan, C-08-CR-18-000694

LA PLATA, MD—Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Tuesday, April 16, 2019, after five days of trial, a Charles County jury convicted Keith Allan Krikstan, 31 of Waldorf, of Sexual Abuse of a Minor.

On January 11, 2018, a detective with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office met with the then 12-year-old victim, who stated that she had been in communication with Krikstan, her substitute teacher at John Hanson Middle School, through Snapchat, Facetime, and text message. She further stated that during those communications, Krikstan showed her part of his genitalia and asked her to send him inappropriate pictures.

An investigation revealed that from October 2017 through January 2018, Krikstan developed an inappropriate relationship with the victim and on multiple occasions requested and received pictures of the victim’s private areas. Krikstan, being the victim’s substitute teacher, on one occasion held the victim back after class to talk about the status of their relationship. He then gave her a pass so that she could enter her next class late.

A classmate of the victim learned the nature of the relationship and notified a school resource officer at the school.

Cell phone downloads from both the victim’s and defendant’s phones corroborated the inappropriate nature of their relationship. Krikstan also admitted to communicating with the victim through text and social media, as well as deleting messages.

During closing argument, Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Freeman told the jury, “[the defendant] took advantage of [the victim] for his own benefit. He knows this is wrong, yet he [continued] because his needs were more important [to him] than doing what’s right.”

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