CREEDE — A teacher at the Creede School is under investigation by the 12^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in connection to an incident earlier this year.

Heidi Anderson, 36 of Creede, has already been charged with a misdemeanor violation of a protection order and a felony charge of tampering with a witness or victim.

According to the affidavit from Harry Alejo, chief investigator of the DAs office, he received a report May 21 from the Rio Grande County Social Services Department concerning possible “sexual abuse” and “requesting law enforcement investigate” the allegations.

Although much of the affidavit is redacted, what it does say is that Alejo was given a series of text messages “sexually explicit [in] nature” and that Anderson allegedly sent them.

The original charges that resulted in the protection order being issued in the first place have not been filed.

She appeared in Mineral County Court for advisement earlier this month and is due back Aug. 22 for a permanent restraining order and again Aug. 29 for a bond hearing.

When contacted by the Courier, Crista Newmyer-Olsen, DA, said, “Our office is unable to comment on an ongoing investigation.”

In a recent Creede School Board meeting, the district’s legal advisor Brad Miller “explaining that the school district, under the advisement of the district attorney’s office, had hired their own third-party investigator to figure out what happened during the time of the event and why there was such a large gap in communication between administration and the school board.

“The board also stated that they would remain as transparent as possible throughout the entire investigation, but only if it did not directly impede the ongoing investigation. ‘The report from the third-party investigator will be made public the minute it is finished enough to do so. In the meantime, the board will be reviewing their policies, procedures as well as receive additional training on how to correctly handle a situation like this in the future,’ said Miller,” according to the Mineral County Miner.

Collin Vinchattle, interim superintendent for Creede schools said, “Anderson turned in her resignation to the Creede School District on July 17, 2019, and is no longer employed by the district.”

Anderson did “not have a comment at this time.”