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North Kansas City teacher charged with sexual acts with minor

Posted at 5:44 PM, Apr 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-18 03:45:29-04

The FBI is looking for more victims in a case of a teacher assaulting students in the Blue Springs and North Kansas City school districts.

Police swarmed a tranquil Blue Springs cul-de-sac Friday to execute a search warrant on the home of James Russell Green Jr.

A young man who didn’t want to be identified was temporarily staying in Green’s basement. 

“I was in the process of painting the kitchen so cabinets and things and the police didn’t even knock they just busted right in and they handcuffed me, they told me they’re from the child task force,” he told 41 Action News. 

It’s the same home where police say Green sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy a dozen years ago. 

The now 27-year-old victim told Blue Springs police in 2005 he met Green through a chat room.

At the time, Green was a teacher and swim coach at Blue Springs South High School and a victim was a junior at Smithville High School.

Court documents show Green bought the boy gifts in exchange for sex and hired the teen to do some landscaping to justify the victim’s visit to his house. 

According to the district, Green resigned from Blue Springs South in May 2009.

In September 2010, the North Kansas City School District rehired him to teach at Northgate Middle School.

“He would tell me how students were misbehaving and they’re like I’m thinking of retiring but nothing out of the ordinary,” the roommate said.

However, police say Green who is listed as a technology teacher on the district’s website reached out to a 16-year-old student in September through social media and text messages.

Detectives found that the 52-year-old man ordered underwear online for the young boy. 

“He was talking about coaching a swim team this summer. He had to apply for it and everything. He had just got approved a couple of weeks ago,” the roommate said.

Police arrested Green at Kauffmann stadium where he worked a second job. Court documents say Green admitted to investigators he used his position as a coach to place cameras inside school locker rooms.

Now a spokesperson for the Blue Springs School District says they are district not aware of cameras in the locker room.

A North Kansas City spokeswomen told 41 Action News Green is on administrative leave. 

Green did make his first court appearance Monday for the six sodomy charges he faces. The judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

The FBI Kansas City Child Exploitation Task Force and the Blue Springs Police Department has set up a hotline so anyone else who may have been victimized by Green can report the crime. That number is 816-805-5138.