By Todd Ruger
Published: Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 3:33 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 3:33 p.m.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY - A fifth-grade teacher lost her job this month when school administrators and parents were anonymously sent images of her engaged in sex acts and apparently smoking marijuana.
In June, the Charlotte County School district office received two envelopes containing four still photographs and a thumb drive containing five videos of Natalie Santagata, a teacher at Kingsway Elementary School in Port Charlotte since 2002.
The videos depict Santagata, 35, in "various comprising acts," with two clearly showing the teacher "performing graphic sex acts" during which she "knew she was being filmed," a school district investigative report states.
In July, an unknown number of similar packets were sent to other Kingsway Elementary teachers and parents, wrote Steve Cummings, school district security supervisor.
Some of the videos were posted to a YouTube account that is no longer available, according to the school records.
"There is no reason to believe that the anonymous sender will not continue to send these videos to the school community no matter what school she is assigned," Cummings wrote. "Clearly the anonymous sender or senders are motivated to cause great personal and professional harm to Natalie Santagata."
Prosecutors and police say there is no investigation into who sent the images and videos. It is not a crime since Santagata consented to being filmed.
Superintendent Douglas Whittaker recommended Santagata's termination based on "personal conduct (or misconduct)" that "clearly rises to the statutory standard of moral turpitude" and "demonstrably impacted your effectiveness as a classroom teacher in our district."