2nd-grade Seattle teacher charged with communicating with minor for immoral purposes

SEATTLE -- Matthew Snyder, a 40-year-old teacher at Seattle's View Ridge Elementary School, has been charged with communicating with a minor for immoral purposes for allegedly texting and posting sexually suggestive chat messages to a 16-year-old girl he knew.

Arraignment for Snyder in King County Superior Court is scheduled for Dec. 31. Bail was set Friday at $50,000.

The second-grade teacher was placed on leave by View Ridge Elementary Nov. 25, immediately after the Seattle Police Department told the district it had received a report of the possible sexual misconduct, interim Principal Kathy Jolly said.

According to court documents, prosecutors said Snyder asked the teenage girl -- who was a high school sophomore but had previously attended View Ridge -- if she would like to volunteer in his classroom. She agreed.

After she began volunteering, the defendant "began sending sexually suggestive text messages ... as well as 'anonymous' chat messages through a social networking site telling her he had a 'crush' on her, asking her to 'twerk' for him and asking about her experience with men," prosecutors said.

They added that the girl, who had just turned 16 on Nov. 5, "became uncomfortable and reported the messages to her parents, who reported it to police."