A longtime Mounds View High School teacher was charged Wednesday with criminal sexual conduct of a 16-year-old female student.
Ted Matthew Bennett (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Ted Matthew Bennett, 58, of Minneapolis, has been a teacher at Mounds View High in Arden Hills for 27 years, according to the criminal complaint charging him with one count each of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bennett was arrested Tuesday and remains jailed ahead of a first appearance on the charges scheduled for Thursday.
An attorney for Bennett is not listed in the court file.
Bennett was put on administrative leave Monday. In a Wednesday email to parents, principal Rob Reetz said, “We are deeply disturbed by this news, and our foremost concern is for all who may be affected by this distressing situation. We stand with all survivors of sexual assault and abuse, and our school unequivocally condemns any actions that harms or exploits students.”
The complaint said authorities believe there may be other victims and that the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office would be opening a tip line for others to come forward.
According to the criminal complaint, law enforcement responded to the high school Monday on a report of an “inappropriate relationship” between Bennett and the student.
An investigation showed Bennett was involved in a sexual relationship with the girl, and that he provided her with alcohol and narcotics, the charges say.
The teen told law enforcement that they communicated through their personal phones and email since the end of 2024-2025 school year. She described having a “light” conversation with Bennett over the summer and that it continued into the current school year.
The teen said she had been going through some hard times and had no one else to talk to, and that Bennett listened and understood her problems. She initially denied that they engaged in sexual activity and said she didn’t want to get him in trouble and blamed herself.
A forensic search of her phone revealed a “significant amount” of evidence that Bennett had sexual contact with the teen on multiple occasions, the complaint said.
The phone exam also revealed evidence of Bennett providing the teen with alcohol and narcotics. On Nov. 2, she asked Bennett in a text if he would give her Adderall and he replied back, “Maybe…Add on some more illegal behaviors to the list,” the complaint reads.
Four days later, Bennett gave her Adderall and alcohol in the school parking lot. Afterward, he messaged her, “I’m a little high, a little juiced up from add (Adderall), as (sic) maybe a bit tipsy from Jungle Juice and still a bit high from car activities,” the complaint reads.
Bennett again gave the teen alcohol two days later, and they discussed using cocaine, the complaint alleges.
In a follow-up interview Nov. 11, the teen told law enforcement that Bennett had been her English teacher throughout the 2024-2025 school year and that they began communicating through phone and email in spring 2025.
She said throughout her 10th-grade year, Bennett commented on her looks, telling her she was “hot” and commenting on her body. She said texts between them became more sexual as time went on and sexual contact began last month, the complaint said.
She said she and Bennett met in each other’s vehicles to engage in sexual acts. Another incident occurred during the school day in a back room of the theater, she told law enforcement.
She said Bennett also sent her “porn clips” electronically and talked about them recreating what was in the video.
Cellphone evidence showed that on Nov. 10, during a conversation, Bennett told the teen he had just been put on administrative leave and said, “I was fired, lie to them and delete everything,” according to the complaint.
Reetz, the high school’s principal, provided law enforcement with an initial report he received on Nov. 7 from the teen’s friend and her boyfriend who reported concerns to school staff about Bennett’s relationship with the teen.
School officials located a video of Bennett and the teen walking together in school hallways and going into a storage closet together, the complaint said. Officials also located email contact between Bennett and the teen using their school e-mail addresses.
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Mounds View High School teacher arrested on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct
Law enforcement arrested Bennett at his home, where they executed a search warrant of the residence. Electronic devices were seized along with other items, including handwritten notes to Bennett from the teen. Police are still analyzing all the evidence seized.
Bennett declined an interview with law enforcement.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi called the case “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
“A teacher using drugs, alcohol and authority to exploit a vulnerable student is abhorrent,” he said in a statement. “Schools must be a safe place for students, and we will not tolerate abuse of power or the sexual exploitation of our youth.”
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