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New Richmond High staff member won't face charges after mistakenly sending students link to sex toy

New Richmond High School
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NEW RICHMOND, Ohio — A New Richmond High School staff member won't face any criminal charges after mistakenly sending a link to students that led to an Amazon page for a sex toy, according to the Clermont County Sheriff's Office.

In an offense report, the school's resource officer wrote he was meeting with Principal Joe Stewart when a staff member interrupted them to report that he'd unintentionally sent a link copied from Amazon for a sex toy instead of the link to a school survey he'd intended to send. The email was sent predominantly to students in the senior class.

The staff member tried to correct the link and told students not to open it because it was spam, but the SRO wrote it was too late — students had already seen "the inappropriate item." From there, school officials contacted the IT department and the Clermont County Sheriff's Office, the offense report says.

The IT department reported there were "no additional concerns at this point" on the staff member's school-issued laptop. No viruses, spyware or anything similar was found; IT officials told a deputy the mistaken link was likely "user error."

The Clermont County Sheriff's Deputy who responded to the school contacted the office of the Clermont County assistant prosecutor, who said the issue was an internal administration issue and not a legal one that constituted a criminal offense.

"This hyperlink was clearly sent by mistake, furthermore, sent to hundreds of recipients and not a single minor/student and/or staff member," wrote the sheriff's deputy in the offense report.

Tracey Miller, superintendent of New Richmond Schools, said parents in the school district were made aware of the email, but declined to comment further on the incident "as this is a personnel issue."

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