{"id":2452871,"date":"2020-01-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=318651"},"modified":"2020-01-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T07:00:00","slug":"attorneys-say-disposition-likely-in-basalt-choir-teachers-sexual-assault-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/attorneys-say-disposition-likely-in-basalt-choir-teachers-sexual-assault-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorneys say disposition likely in Basalt choir teacher\u2019s sexual assault case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Brittany von Stein and her attorney, Michael Fox, depart a Garfield County courtroom on Wednesday.<\/strong>
Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A former Basalt music and choir teacher suspected of extracurricular contact with a student is heading toward a resolution of the case, according to both her attorney and the prosecutor.<\/p>\n

Brittany von Stein was arrested Sept. 4<\/a> on three counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust. At an Oct. 30 court appearance, she requested a preliminary hearing<\/a> that was scheduled for Friday. Michael Fox, her attorney, informed 9th Judicial District Chief Judge James Boyd Friday that there was a change in plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a meaningful talk with the D.A. and at this point we\u2019re waiving our right to a preliminary hearing,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

After Boyd confirmed with von Stein that she wanted to waive her right to the hearing, Fox requested the next appearance be set for March 3 for a possible disposition of the case. He said he had \u201ccollected some mitigation materials\u201d in the case, but didn\u2019t elaborate on what he discovered.<\/p>\n

Zach Parsons, a deputy district attorney with the 9th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office, agreed that the case is moving toward a plea disposition. He told Boyd that \u201csomething substantive\u201d will happen March 3 or soon after.<\/p>\n

The court case has been sealed<\/a> because it involves a minor. Prior to the case being sealed, a Basalt police officer\u2019s affidavit for an arrest warrant spelled out some of the alleged evidence against von Stein. Key pieces of evidence include sexually explicit text messages<\/a> allegedly sent by von Stein to a student, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

The texts were allegedly sent while the student was hanging out with friends one night. The student had fallen asleep and his friends read the texts, the affidavit said. One of the boys told a police officer about the texts Aug. 29.<\/p>\n

That juvenile \u201csaid they saw messages from Ms. von Stein talking about kissing and sex,\u201d the police officer\u2019s affidavit said. \u201c(The source) said the next morning, the entire group confronted (the student). (He) admitted that the texts were from Ms. von Stein. He further admitted to having an ongoing sexual relationship with Ms. von Stein.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alleged victim asked the other boys to \u201ckeep it a secret,\u201d the affidavit said.<\/p>\n

Investigators seized the alleged victim\u2019s smartphone. On Aug. 30, the alleged victim told the police investigator that he had been having an ongoing sexual relationship with von Stein in January and February of 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to document at least three separate encounters that (the student) said von Stein had sexual intercourse with him,\u201d the officer\u2019s affidavit said.<\/p>\n

The student said his phone contained texts that detailed their sexual relationship.<\/p>\n

The texts were a turning point in the investigation, according to the affidavit. Police opened the investigation Aug. 14 but the alleged victim initially denied having sex with von Stein. The student said his heavy workload required him to have private vocal lessons with von Stein.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The student) said that during one of those private lessons, he kissed Ms. von Stein,\u201d the affidavit said. \u201cHe said she told him that no one could ever know that happened; it would have to be their secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

The student acknowledged he flirted with von Stein via texts and although she didn\u2019t flirt back initially, she eventually became \u201cvery personal with him through text.\u201d<\/p>\n

The student initially told the officer there were rumors he was having sex with von Stein, but that it wasn\u2019t true. He admitted he might have bragged to friends while intoxicated about having sex with her. He changed his story and acknowledged the alleged relationship after police learned about the texts.<\/p>\n

The affidavit also said von Stein reported to school administrators in August that one of her students, a juvenile male, had kissed her during a private vocal lesson. The administrators asked the Basalt police department to open an investigation.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brittany von Stein and her attorney, Michael Fox, depart a Garfield County courtroom on Wednesday.Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times A former Basalt music and choir teacher suspected of extracurricular contact with a student is heading toward a resolution of the case, according to both her attorney and the prosecutor. Brittany von Stein was arrested Sept. 4 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 22:47:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}