Former North Hancock Elementary School Employee Charged with Sexual Abuse

Content Warning: This story contains references to sexual abuse and trauma. Reader discretion is advised.

A Hawesville woman is accused of subjecting another individual adult with an intellectual disability to sexual contact by sending nude photos of the individual to a man online, according to a Kentucky State Police affidavit and court records.

Tanis Lewko, 55, is charged in Hancock District Court with first-degree criminal abuse, first-degree sexual abuse and distribution of sexually explicit images without consent.

The Complaint was signed by Trooper Alena Oakes of Kentucky State Police Post 16, it alleges the abuse occurred between Sept. 28, 2025, and March 1, 2026, in Hancock County.

Lewko previously worked in the cafeteria at North Hancock Elementary School. The Complaint states another school employee reported seeing a topless photo of Lewko and the alleged victim on Lewko’s phone. The photo along with sexually explicit messages were allegedly sent to a man identified in court records as Adam Corley.

The school employee notified law enforcement who then started the investigation. Investigators obtained and executed a search warrant for Lewko’s phone and seized Corley’s phone.  Lewko’s phone revealed that she sent sexually explicit photos of the alleged victim to Corley on eleven separate occasions through Facebook Messenger and discussed him having sexual relations with the alleged victim.  According to the Complaint, both Lewko and Corley denied any physical sexual contact but admitted to sending photos and messages. Corley died after his phone was seized.

Hancock District Court Judge Daniel Boling authorized Lewko’s arrest.  She was taken into custody on June 8 at her home in Hawesville and charged in Hancock County, according to court records. She is being held in the Breckinridge County Detention Center on a $50,000 cash bond. She will be arraigned on June 16 in Hancock District Court at 9:00 am.