A former Soldotna High School teacher and union head accused of sexual abuse of a student will go to trial next month, with the proceedings scheduled for June 16.
Nathan Erfurth, 36, is a former SoHi history teacher and also former president of the Kenai Peninsula Education Association. He was arrested in May 2023 after a former student alleged that he had sexually abused her in 2017 and 2018 when she was a minor. He was indicted on 61 charges for those alleged crimes by a Kenai grand jury in June 2023, and has pleaded not guilty to each.
In July, a Kenai Superior Court judge dismissed six charges of possession of child pornography against Erfurth, but denied a motion to dismiss 42 counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, seven counts of fourth-degree sexual abuse of a minor and six counts of unlawful exploitation of a minor.
Erfurth has denied the allegations. Since his arrest in May 2023, Erfurth’s trial has been delayed 14 times at the request of his attorney, Eric Derleth.
At a hearing on Monday, May 12, Derleth asked for a summer trial expected to take two weeks.
A trial call is scheduled at the Kenai Courthouse for June 11 at 2:30 p.m., before the scheduled trial on June 16.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
