Court reduces charges against former Gering Junior High teacher

Charges have been reduced against a former Gering Junior High School science teacher accused of a sexting incident involving a teenage girl.

October 27, 2020Updated: October 27, 2020
News Channel NebraskaBy News Channel Nebraska

GERING - Charges have been reduced against a former Gering Junior High School science teacher accused of a sexting incident involving a teenage girl.

31-year old Zachary Boness, an Alliance native and Chadron State College graduate, has apparently accepted a plea bargain.

Boness had faced two felonies and a misdemeanor but an amended complaint filed in Scotts Bluff County District Court dropped one felony, reduced the other to a misdemeanor, and reduced the original misdemeanor to a lower class offense.

A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for November 5th. No plea agreement has been filed, but  those documents typically require a defendant to enter either a guilty or no-contest plea to the amended charges.

Boness was arrested in January as the result of a Nebraska State Patrol investigation involving the social media app Snapchat.

Authorities claimed Boness anonymously contacted a 16-year-old student requesting a sexting relationship.

The girl was able to identify him as a teacher and said she was uncomfortable with the conversation, at which point Boness broke it off. 

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