An administrator at Westminster’s Mountain Range High School arrested Monday on suspicion of sexual assault sent more than a dozen inappropriate pictures to an underage student, including one where he was holding his genitals, police said.
Tate Drane, 27, was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, internet sexual exploitation of a child and internet luring of a child, according to an arrest affidavit released Tuesday.
Drane will appear in Adams County court Thursday afternoon for an official filing of charges hearing, according to court records.
A high school student told police that she was at her friend’s house for a sleepover Saturday night when Drane, her former middle school gym teacher, started sending her photos of himself on Snapchat, according to the affidavit. The student did not screenshot or save the photos, but she had a friend at the sleepover take pictures of her phone showing the Snapchats, police said.
Police said the 13 photos the student gave to officers included shirtless, upper-body pictures; photos with Drane’s face; multiple lower-body photos with his pants on; and at least one photo where Drane was holding his genitals with his pants down.
According to the affidavit, the photos were captioned with sexual messages, including, “Thinking of you, making it hard to hide it” on a photo of pajama pants, “Show me more” and “Keep up” on nude photos and multiple requests for the underage girl to send back nudes of her own.
The student met Drane at Rocky Top Middle School when he was her gym teacher and also worked as his teacher’s assistant, police said. She told police that Drane once told her to put items away in the equipment room, followed her and grabbed her butt. The student did not report the incident when it happened.
In an interview with police, Drane admitted to sending the student photos over the weekend but denied the middle school assault, telling officers “there should never have been a time with us alone. Never.”
Drane told police he and the student started Snapchatting in April, according to the affidavit. He admitted to sending similar, inappropriate photos before and told officers that she had sent him nude, upper-body photos. Drane denied keeping the underage student’s photos.
“We definitely got too close,” Drane told police, according to the affidavit.
The student told police that Drane would routinely ask for photos of her and ask her to meet up with him at night. She said he would send her messages when he was near or passing by her house, even though she never gave him her address.
Related Articles
Mountain Range High administrator accused of sending inappropriate pictures to underage student
Commerce City man caught in child predator sting sentenced to probation
Fort Carson man sentenced to 14 years in prison for child sexual abuse
Her parents were concerned Drane pulled her address from campus records, police said in the affidavit.
Drane has been placed on administrative leave and will not work or coach in the district until further notice, Adams 12 Five Star Schools spokesperson Christina Dahmen said.
Drane has worked for the school district since 2018, Dahmen said. He worked as a gym teacher at Rocky Top Middle School from August 2021 to July 2024 and started as a dean of students at Mountain Range High School in August.
He also worked as a football coach at Thornton High School from 2018 to this school year, as a head girls basketball coach at Thornton High School between 2021 and 2022 and as a head girls basketball coach at Mountain Range High School from 2022 to this school year, according to district officials.
Anyone with information about Drane or the allegations should call the Westminster Police Department at 303-658-4360.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.