Crime & Safety

Manchester Teacher Charged With Sexual Assault of Student

Sperreng Middle School health teacher James Wilder is charged with six counts of second-degree statutory sodomy.

Written by Karlie Baker.


St. Louis County Police have identified the Sperreng Middle School teacher who was arrested on school property Tuesday morning as 47-year-old James Bliss Wilder III, of the 800 block of Totem Woods Court in Manchester. 

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Wednesday the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Wilder with six counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, police stated in a news release.

Wilder, a health and fitness teacher at Sperreng, has been placed on administrative leave, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Sperreng is in the Lindbergh School District.

He is believed to have had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student from Aug. 1, 1996 until Sept. 21, 1997, according to a news release from St. Louis County Police. The victim was a Lindbergh High School student at the time, and told police that Wilder was her coach on the Girls Cross Country Team.

Police are reportedly investigating the possibility that there are other victims.

A $50,000 dollar cash only bond has been issued. 


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