00:00Thank you for all coming. Yesterday, the 26th Lancaster County Sheriff's Office arrested Cody Pester. He's 26th of Lincoln, a 6th grade teacher and the wrestling coach. We got informed of this investigation or notified of it in December by Odo County, who started it, who had gotten an intake from DHHS.
00:24We've been working on it for about a month. The victim of this is 18. The relationship started in May of 2025. The victim is a graduate of Palmyra. Pester is the wrestling coach. Like I said, they did meet during athletic events.
00:47I do want to say since May of 2025, Pester and the victim had contact over 13,000 times on the phone.
01:00We want to thank Palmyra Superintendent Michael Hart for their cooperation and all his staff who has helped us through this difficult time for them.
01:16Again, we sometimes in our professions, teachers, law enforcement and anything like this, we have a special responsibility, special to the students.
01:30And this is why we made this arrest. Sometimes things you should not violate got violated in this case. Do you got any questions of me?
01:39So who notified? Was it her or the superintendent that got a hold of you guys?
01:48What ended up happening is they got the intake Odo County thinking it's in Palmyra, which is in Odo County. Well, as the investigation went on, it was learned that the crime occurred in Lincoln.
02:02And that's when the Odo County attorney contacted our county attorney's office, who came down to the sheriff's office. And that's when we took over the investigation in December. So that's how we got on to it at this point.
02:16Yes.
02:17You said the victim was 18. They were 18 when this started or are 18 now? Just want to clarify.
02:22I do not know. I know that they're 18 now. With the law, it's Nebraska statute 28-316.01. It states under Nebraska law is legal for a school employee to engage in sexual activity or contact with a student and is enrolled in that school or enrolled within the last 90 days.
02:46So she graduated in May. The relationship turned sexual in July in that 90-day period. That's why the violation when that occurred. That we know at this point in time.
02:58We're also making this press conferences. If there are any other victims or anybody with information, please contact us at the sheriff's office 402-441-6500.
03:12We do hope that there is not. But again, if there is, we certainly want to know about it.
03:19Were all of the texts sexual in nature?
03:23Some of them certainly were.
03:27It certainly read like it was a dating relationship.
03:32No inappropriate sort of contact or allegations, I guess, on contraband or drugs or anything like alcohol on that?
03:41Nothing that we have found so far. The investigation is ongoing. We're still getting information and going through things.
03:48But at this point, we had enough to make their arrest, and that's why we went ahead and did it.
03:52Was there any inappropriate contact between them on school property at all?
03:56Not that we have found out yet.
03:59And the inappropriate contact started in July or in May and then became sexual in July?
04:04They started, as I would classify, as a dating relationship in May. We do know that in July that it did turn sexual.
04:13Go ahead.
04:15Do you know who originally reported it?
04:17I do not know. I just know it came through, the HHS intake.
04:25Never like having to report on these things.
04:28But again, I'm very proud of our criminal investigation unit who investigated this a lot of time.
04:35And there's been a lot of reports and a lot of work, and I'm very proud of them.
04:39This was not an easy case for them to prove, and they did an outstanding job, and I'm really proud of them.
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