A Portage Township Schools teacher has been arrested on charges of child solicitation and vicarious sexual gratification after Portage Police said that he was “sexting” two former students at Fegely Middle School.

Bryan Tyman, 44, of 6225 Brie Ave., was taken into custody on Friday and was being held without bond at the Porter County Jail.

Tyman was charged with two counts of child solicitation and two of vicarious sexual gratification, both Class D felonies punishable by a term of six months to three years.

According to police, the investigation began on Friday morning after a student “anonymously” alerted School Resource Officer Michael Candiano to Tyman’s “misconduct” with two juvenile females.

“Through the course of the investigation, it was learned that (Tyman) had been maintaining a relationship with the previous students through phone conversations and text messages,” police said. “Recently, he had started sending messages that were sexually inappropriate in nature. When an uninvolved student observed a photo he had sent to one of the victim’s phones, the matter was brought to the attention of Candiano.”

“During an interview with Det. Janis Regnier, (Tyman) confessed to sending a sexually explicit picture of himself and also asked the students for pictures of themselves,” police said. “The students did not send pictures of themselves.”

“I would like to commend the work of School Resource Officer Michael Candiano, Det. Janis Regnier, the officials from the Portage Township Schools, and the Porter County Prosecutor’s Office, who worked swiftly to resolve the serious nature of what was reported, which ultimately resulted in the arrest of Mr. Tyman.”

Posted 1/28/2013