Police are trying to determine exactly how a registered sex offender managed to get a job at a Cedar Falls elementary school.
Forty-year old Michelle Jo Hinde had been working as a janitor at St. Patrick’s School, despite having two sex crime convictions on her record.
Hinde had been being hired by a private company, and not the school.
She was convicted of solicitation of a minor in 1997 and again on a count of second degree sexual abuse in 2004.
The current investigation began after school officials reported several items had gone missing, including three laptop computers, as well as some gift cards.
Investigators were able to link some of the thefts to Hinde.
She was arrested earlier this month for second degree theft and violating the terms of the exclusion zones. She is now being held in the Black Hawk County Jail under $25,000 bond.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls