Orange City, Iowa — The plea-taking hearing for the former Sioux Center teacher charged with 146 counts of child sex-related crimes is scheduled for this Friday, November 30th.
Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says Curtis Van Dam will appear in Sioux County District Court in Orange City to change his plea in the case from not guilty to guilty and receive his sentence. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in February.
Kunstle says details of the plea agreement are not yet public but will be released at the hearing.
The state charges against Van Dam stemmed from a complaint received by Sioux Center Police in October of last year, alleging inappropriate conduct between Van Dam, a former teacher at Sioux Center Christian School, and a student attending the school. The investigation led to 146 counts of sex-related crimes being filed against Van Dam, the earliest of which is alleged to have happened in August 2013. Authorities say there were at least thirteen minor victims.
In a separate federal case this June, Van Dam was sentenced to fifteen years in federal prison as part of a plea bargain and pled guilty to one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Child.
