By Rupert Howell

A trial for a former South Panola High School teacher charged with three counts of enticing and coercing, by use of a cellular telephone, children under the age of 18 to produce visual depictions of children engaging in sexually explicit sexual conduct, is scheduled for Monday morning in Circuit Court in Batesville.

The grand jury indictment names Marion O’Bryan Strickland stating the incidents occurred on or before January 26, 2013. Earlier news reports indicate he was charged in October of 2012.

He was charged October 24, 2012 after being arrested at South Panola.

Investigator Tim Douglas with the Mississipp Bureau of Investigation testified at a bond hearing in November 2012 that Strickland used his role as a student council sponsor to befriend teenage boys, promising to “set them up” with girls.

Explicit text messages and photos from the “girls” were sent by Strickland, who asked the boys to respond with the same according to Douglas’ testimony.

In that bond hearing, Douglas also testified that  Strickland was investigated for a similar incident at Delta State University in 2009.