Nathan Erfurth, a former teacher at Soldotna High School and president of the local teachers union, was in court last week for another evidentiary hearing involving the five counts against him for alleged sexual abuse of a minor over whom he had authority.
The hearing surrounding the interpretation of recorded conversations that may be pivotal to the case. Erurth has pleaded not guilty after his arrest in April of 2023, for crimes associated with having a sexual relationship with a former student who was a minor. His attorney says that the transcript of a phone call between Erfurth and the girl is inaccurate and misrepresents what was said in the conversation, which was played for a grand jury last year.
During the recent hearing at the Kenai Courthouse, Derleth played audio clips from the recordings for the judge last week in the Kenai courthouse, aiming to demonstrate inconsistencies between the state’s interpretation and what they contend to be the actual dialogue.
At one place in the recording, where the former student allegedly asked Erfurth if he regretted “sleeping with her,” the defense attorney said the actual words were if Erfurth regretted “taking her in,” which might have another meaning. The audio recording was of poor quality. Erfurth contends he was answering a different question than that which the district attorney says he was answering.
Assistant District Attorney Julie Matucheski maintained that the state’s transcripts are accurate and said Erfurth is merely concocting an interpretation that would possibly exonerate him.
The trial was set to begin on April 15, but the defense and prosecution will now submit more statements to the judge over the coming weeks, and the judge, Kelly Lawson, will likely address the challenges to the evidence before the next trial date in June.
Erfurth was a political advocate for more funding in education, testifying in front of the Senate Education Committee in 2023 in favor of raising the base student allocation — the permanent funding formula — for Alaska school districts. In a March commentary published in the Kenai Peninsula Clarion, he wrote, “Public education funding is an investment in our schools, students, businesses and local economy. Now is the time for the Alaska Legislature to pass a meaningful increase to the base student allocation.”
In January, Erfurth sought to have the grand jury indictment thrown out, saying that over the course of several recorded hours of conversation between him and the alleged victim, he never admitted he had had sex with her. He faces 42 counts in the case.
The original Alaska State Troopers public report stated: “On April 3, 2023, the Alaska State Troopers received a report that 34-year-old Soldotna resident Nathaniel E. Erfurth had sexually abused a minor over multiple years. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s Soldotna Major Crimes Unit launched a thorough investigation into the allegations. Investigators determined that while Erfurth was employed as a high school teacher in the Soldotna area, he had sexually abused a female juvenile multiple times between 2017 and 2019. For approximately the past two years, Nathaniel has been on full-time release from teaching while serving as the Kenai Peninsula Education Association (KPEA) president. On May 20, 2023, Investigators arrested Erfurth without incident, and he was remanded to Wildwood Pretrial Facility on one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in the Second Degree and one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in the Fourth Degree. Investigators did not find evidence that Erfurth sexually abused any other minors.”
