Men

Erik Ekstrom, Bend-La Pine Schools elementary music teacher accused of possessing explicit child images

Published

4 years ago

September 16, 2022

A music instructor at Bend-La Pine Schools was detained during a raid on his house on Thursday morning on suspicion of having graphic pictures of children and posting a film online showing child sex abuse.

According to police communications manager Sheila Miller, Bend police learned about a film showing child sexual crimes that had been published and connected to Erik Duane Ekstrom, 35, of Bend, on August 11 from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

According to Miller, further inquiry turned up further task force tips that were found on Ekstrom’s electronic equipment.

According to Miller, Bend police carried out a search warrant at Ekstrom’s residence on Northeast Viking Avenue at around 7 a.m. on Thursday.

Ekstrom was detained and booked into the Deschutes County Jail on two counts of first-degree inciting child sexual assault, a Class C felony, and several electronic devices were seized. On Friday in the afternoon, he is due to be arraigned on the initial allegations.

In addition to working at Cascade Middle School in February, Ekstrom was recruited by Bend-La Pine Schools in August of last year to work at Highland Magnet School in Kenwood. According to Julianne Repman, the director of communication and safety for Bend-La Pine, he was given the current academic year’s assignments to Summit High School, Cascade Middle School, and Pacific Crest Middle School.

“These photographs are not believed to be of children in the local region,” Summit Principal Michael McDonald wrote in a letter to parents. “There is no present information that Ekstrom’s offenses have a nexus to our students, staff, or schools.”

Ekstrom’s father was a former principal of Highland Elementary School, according to a welcome letter from the school’s principal in August 2021. It stated that he had spent ten years in Minnesota teaching music.

Ekstrom has no criminal history according to online sources in Minnesota or Oregon.

Ekstrom claimed to have been born and reared in Bend until relocating to Minnesota in 2006 to attend St. Olaf College.

Ekstrom also holds the position of music director at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon. According to his biography, he also graduated from Summit High School in 2006 among other accomplishments. Later, it was changed to reflect that he was on administrative leave.