UPDATE (WKOW) -- Authorities filed a criminal complaint Friday against former Portage High School English teacher Abby Dibbs, charging her with two counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff.
Dibbs, 35, appeared for a court hearing Friday from the Columbia County Jail. The judge's bail conditions for Dibbs included barring her from contact with a 17-year old boy, no unsupervised contact with other children other than her own child, and a prohibition against being at Portage High School. After the hearing, $3,500 bail was posted and Dibbs was released from jail.
Although Dibbs was still listed online as a Portage teacher Friday, school district officials say she is longer a teacher at the high school. Officials decline to specify how she separated from her teaching job.
According to the complaint, the student, whose name has been withheld to protect his privacy, said he was in love with Dibbs and another student reported the assaults.
"Dibbs admitted that this past weekend, she and VICTIM1 had discussed how they felt about each other and how there were lines that they could not cross. Dibbs admitted that these lines were then crossed," Portage PD Sgt. Max Jenatscheck said in the complaint.
Dibbs admitted that she and the student had sex multiple times that weekend.
Police Sgt. Dan Garrigan says Dibbs and the teenager initially engaged in an appropriate teacher-student relationship. "But I think it appears as if this relationship maybe changed its course maybe earlier this spring," Garrigan says.
The criminal complaint says the teen was upset someone "snitched" on his involvement with Dibbs. Garrigan says the boy is cooperating with the investigation.
Records with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction show Dibbs with a lifetime teaching license under the name Abby Riese. Riese was first licensed as a substitute teacher in 2010. Records show Riese's license is currently under investigation.
Garrigan says an investigation continues to try to ensure there were no victims other than the seventeen year old boy.
"At this point, we're aware of the one incident, the one victim," Garrigan says.
PORTAGE (WKOW) -- A Portage Community School District teacher has been arrested for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a student at the Portage High School.
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The school district contacted the Portage Police Department on Wednesday and learned the relationship had become sexual in nature, according to a news release.
35-year-old Abby Dibbs of Cross Plains was arrested and is being held at the Columbia County Jail.
Dibbs is expected to appear in Columbia County Circuit Court as early as Friday.
In a statement, district administrator Joshua Sween said Dibbs is no longer employed with the district, and that his administration contacted law enforcement immediately upon learning about the situation.
"We feel confident that the high school and all district buildings are safe and secure for all students and staff. We appreciate the efforts of our law enforcement in addressing this matter," Sween said in the statement.
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