Watertown teacher arrested after allegedly engaging in sexual activity with a student

By Mitchell Now January 26, 2024 3:22 pm

{KXLG -Watertown, SD} The Watertown School District sent out a communication to parents regarding an incident involving an instructor at the Watertown High School who engaged in sexual activity with a student.

The press release and messages to parents do not indicate the individual. However, 32-year old Jordan Bakken of Watertown is an English teacher with the Watertown School. According to case file documents, he was arrested on January 25th for 4th-degree rape of a victim under the age of 16 and older than 13, solicitation of a minor, and sexual contact with a child under the age of 18 by a person in authority. Further research confirmed in a filed complaint court document Bakken engaged in sexual contact with a minor female approximately 15 years old earlier this month. The minor left her home to drive around with Bakken to a cabin near Gettysburg and told her parents that they had a gun with them, and Bakken was suicidal. They met the minor’s parents in Redfield, where she got in the parents’ vehicle and tried to “talk him down.” The mother called the police, and the police made contact with Bakken.

Bakken is currently being held at the Brookings County Detention Center on a $40,000 cash-only bond.

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