Formal charges are pending against a Burlington High School teacher and wrestling coach accused of sex crimes against children from over a decade ago.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says 31-year-old Michael Vander Linden of Burlington was arrested Tuesday evening on eight counts of alleged indecent liberties with a child. The investigation is ongoing. People with information about this case can call the KBI at 800-KS-CRIME or go online to kbi.ks.gov/sar.
KBI says its investigation began in June of 2022 after a former female student of Vander Linden filed a report with the Coffey County Sheriff’s Office, claiming an alleged sexual relationship between the two in 2012 and 2013 while Vander Linden was a student teacher and the student was a high school sophomore. A second female student came forward later, claiming she had sexual intercourse on “multiple occasions” with Vander Linden in 2013 when she was reportedly 15 years old.
Vander Linden was employed at Burlington High School as both a teacher and wrestling coach at the time of his arrest. He was a Kansas State Department of Education Horizon Award winner for being an exemplary first-year teacher while at Burlington High in 2017.
Vander Linden is currently in the Coffey County Jail on a listed bond of $100,000.
Michael Vander Linden is a younger brother of Matthew Vander Linden, a former Coffey County deputy who pleaded no contest to aggravated indecent liberties and criminal sodomy in December 2017 after crimes against a then-15-year-old in November 2016. Matthew Vander Linden was sentenced in 2018 to nearly five years in prison, lifetime postrelease supervision and lifetime sex offender registration. He was released in April 2022.
