Iowa teacher Cassidy Kraus charged with sexual abuse

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Cassidy Sue Kraus (left) in a Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa, mug shot and (right) as seen in a profile picture from November 2022 on her Facebook page.

An Iowa teacher accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old child and sending “obscene” materials to three minors on Snapchat is out of jail following her Friday booking, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Law&Crime.

Cassidy Sue Kraus, a 24-year-old middle school reading teacher who reportedly opted to resign rather than facing a firing from her job in the IKM-Manning Community School District (CSD) back in August, currently faces felony charges of third-degree sexual abuse and two counts of lascivious acts with a child, plus three misdemeanor charges for allegedly disseminating obscene materials to three different children on Snapchat during the 2022 and 2023 school years.

Kraus, whose Facebook page says she is married, allegedly “knowingly disseminat[ed] obscene material” to Victim 1 between January 2022 and May 2022 and to Victims 2 and 3 between January 2023 and June 2023, each time using Snapchat, according to Carroll County criminal complaints obtained by Law&Crime.

According to investigators, however, the suspect’s conduct did not just occur on an app. Kraus is accused of committing lascivious acts against a 13-year-old in May 2022 by “fondling or touching” the victim and causing the “touching of the person’s genitals to any part of the body of the child.” The complaint noted that Kraus is a “mandatory reporter of child abuse as a teacher employed by the IKM-Manning Community School District.”

Kraus is further accused of committing third-degree sexual abuse against a 14-year-old between Jan. 17 and Jan. 31 by “performing sex acts” while, again, being a mandatory reporter of child abuse.

While the disseminating obscene materials counts are classified as serious misdemeanors, the lascivious acts and third-degree sexual abuse charges are class C felonies typically punishable by not more than 10 years under Iowa law — if the accused is a first-time offender, as is alleged in this case.

Cassidy Sue Kraus, née Branning, previously made the dean’s list at Iowa State University multiple times for “outstanding academic achievement” in her elementary education coursework. She also went to the school in IKM-Manning CSD, the very district where she later taught. Local news accounts show that Kraus, then known as Cassie Branning, was a runner on the IKM-Manning Girls Track & Field team.

A wedding website indicates that Kraus’ wedding was set to take place on July 1, which is also the day her Facebook page says she got married. The most recent repost from her account on X suggested that she herself was looking forward to getting married.