SHELBYVILLE, Ind — A Career Center Instructor out of Shelbyville is under arrest after having sex with one of his students.
Police say Blue River Career Programs instructor Matthias Ellis asked one of his students for her Snapchat over a year ago. But it wasn't until this July when Ellis told police the messages became sexual.
Court documents reveal in the last couple of months, Ellis and the teen would meet in a YMCA parking lot to have sex. Just last week, police say the teen reported this to her vice principal.
After this, police got a search warrant for Ellis' phone, where they say they found several child pornography videos.
"It might have looked to people at first, 'oh this girl is 17-years-old, it's only illegal because it's her teacher,' but them you get into the material on his phone and we are seeing these cases over and over again with people in a position of trust," Kristina Korobov with the Zero Abuse Project said.
Korobov told 13News in cases like this one it can be scary for the victim to report this to an adult.
"At some point the child realizes 'I don't want this' but they feel completely out of control in this situation because the person is an adult and they feel powerless to stop what is going on, so I just want to commend her bravery and coming forward," she said.
Korobov says if a victim is afraid to come forward, it is important for their friends or even another adult to report any possible child seduction.
During this investigation, police also learned Ellis allegedly stole engines and other items belonging to the program and sold them on Facebook Marketplace.
Ellis now faces child seduction possession of child pornography and theft charges.
The Career Center sent a release to 13News, it says Ellis is no longer employed and they are working to find a replacement for that course.