A former Burlington High School teacher and wrestling coach has been sentenced for sex crimes with minors. Michael Vander Linden was sentenced in Coffey County District Court to three years in prison with life time registration as a sex offender. He pleaded no contest to three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Two former students claimed he had sex with them between 2012 and 2013, both 15 years old at the time.
In June 2022, the KBI initiated an investigation after the Coffey County Sheriff’s office took a report from a former student of Vander Linden’s who reported a sexual relationship that took place in 2012 and 2013, when she was a sophomore and Vander Linden was a student teacher. The investigation led to a second former student who reported she also had sexual intercourse with Vander Linden on multiple occasions in 2013, when she was 15 years old.
