Ex-Ferguson-Florissant Teacher Charged with Rape, Didn't Expect Arrest

A former St. Louis County high school teacher suspected of raping a student in the mid-1970s apparently approached police because he thought he could not be charged in the case, Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch said.

Donald Ingerson, 67, is charged with one count of rape and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy.

He taught at five or six school districts in St. Louis County beginning in the 1960s and continuing into the 1990s, McCulloch said Tuesday during a news conference at the in Clayton. McCulloch declined to identify the districts, though he said districts where the suspect worked have been notified and asked to contact police should additional victims come forward.

Chief Accountability Officer Larry Larrew confirmed that Ingerson worked at the school district between 1987 and 2010. He said he was a science teacher in the district and did some coaching in some sports as well. 

Larrew said while the district is still learning more about the situation, they are looking into the matter further.

Two victims, both students at the time of the incidents, have been identified so far, though McCulloch said his work in similar cases leads him to think there are others. Ingerson is suspected of having had multiple sexual encounters with both, McCulloch said, the first between September 1974 and January 1976, and the second between Jan. 1, 1995 and Nov. 17, 1996.

McCulloch said he thinks the encounters happened at different locations outside of school grounds.

In early June, Ingerson called the to say he had something to discuss, McCulloch said. He spoke with investigators.

Ingerson, who lives in Ely, MN, near the Canadian border, arrived in St. Louis on Sunday and repeated statements about the sexual encounters to police on Monday, McCulloch said. At that time, McCulloch said, Ingerson was arrested.

Ingerson did not appear to realize that the statute of limitations had not expired, McCulloch said.

Both victims have been contacted and have been cooperative. Police previously had not heard of either the victims or Ingerson, McCulloch said.

McCulloch said Ingerson moved to Minnesota sometime after he retired from teaching.

He is being held in the St. Louis County Jail on a $300,000 cash-only bond. 

People who think they might have been victims of a sexual crime are asked to call St. Louis County detectives at 314-880-2341.