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Former Estill Co. Teacher, Boyfriend Indicted

Posted at 3:49 PM, May 29, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-29 15:49:04-04

ESTILL COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– A former Estill County teacher and her boyfriend have been indicted on multiple charges after police say he used her job to message teens for sex.

Police said that Sherry Murphy knew that her boyfriend, Torstein Torsetinson, 35, messaged girls inappropriately.

The indictment said that in September 2018, Murphy allegedly deleted messages from a victim’s cell phone in order to conceal evidence, and deleted messages between herself and Torsteinson from her phone.

Torsteinson is accused of soliciting a minor for sexual activity over an electronic device in September 2018 and then deleting messages from his phone in order to conceal evidence, according to the indictment.

Court documents say that in January 2019, Murphy hit a juvenile in the mouth at her home and forced the juvenile to lie about what happened to social services and Estill County School officials in an attempt to cover up the assault.

An indictment says that Murphy has been indicted by the grand jury with one count of intimidating a participant in the legal process, one count of assault 4th degree (child abuse), one count of facilitation to prohibited use of electronic communication system to procure a minor, two counts of tampering with physical evidence, and failure to report child abuse.

Torsteinson has been indicted by the grand jury on one count of prohibited use of electronic communication system to procure a minor, and one count of tampering with physical evidence.