Jacksonville, FLORIDA

ALL CHARGES DROPPED.

Dec 6, 2007 - Aaron "Coach" Jackson, a teacher at Paxon Middle School, was arrested and charged with with child neglect and encouraging someone to commit an act resulting in injury to a child.

Reportedly, he called the parent of a 13-year-old boy and encouraged a father to come to the school and beat his son with a belt. The father did and was arrested. A police report states that after the attack the boy was shaking and had a large cut above his eye, a swollen arm and bruises. The father was charged with child abuse.

The 13-year-old was placed in the custody of a child protective investigator. Jackson has been reassigned at Paxon, pending the investigation.

Dec 22 - The school district is "trying to fire Jackson." The school district allowed the Florida Times-Union to review Jackson's personnel file.

In 1999, the school's principal, Theresa Hodge, formally documented Jackson's actions toward students, parents and staff. In a May 1999 reprimand letter, she cited similar incidents to the most recent one.

"Your demeanor with students has been and continues to be an embarrassment to the entire educational setting," she wrote. "Do not call parents when you are angry or upset."

Hodge also reprimanded Jackson in August of that year, saying that he screamed and punched doors when he was approached about concerns.

The school system referred Jackson for discipline to the state Department of Education that year, which determined that no probable cause existed to suspend or revoke his teaching certificate.

Jackson received mostly satisfactory marks on his annual performance evaluations, including the most recent one in 2006.

TT - Amazing isn't it how school districts can, if they want to, release personnel files? Especially when they want to fire someone. On the other hand, had a teacher had sex with a 5-year-old in the school cafeteria in full view of the entire student body, the records would be sacrosanct. Go figure.

ALL CHARGES DROPPED.

Lehigh Acres, FLORIDA

ALL CHARGES DROPPED and RECORD EXPUNGED.

Oct 30, 2007 - Charges dropped and record expunged for Florida teacher.

Sex charges have been dropped and the arrest has been expunged against a Lehigh Acres teacher.

[The 24-year-old teacher] had been arrested November 9, 2006 and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation. He had been accused of sexual assault of a female student under 16 according to a Lee County Sheriff's office report.

The State Attorney's office reduced the charge to misdemeanor battery in January, according to court records. The misdemeanor charge has since been dropped. too.

The State Attorney's office ordered the Lee County Sheriff's Department to expunge all information concerning the arrest or criminal history record against [the teacher].

TT - He is unnamed because we never previously reported the arrest.

Murphy, NORTH CAROLINA

NOT GUILTY VERDICT

Mar 27, 2007 - Lonnie Oliver, 52, a Murphy High School science teacher, was arrested and charged with one count of sexual battery on a 15-year-old female student.

The sheriff's department became aware of the incident a few weeks after it allegedly occurred when the victim and her mother spoke to a victim's advocate.

Odd note: [Emphasis ours.]

When asked if the superintendent or school system is required to report allegations of unlawful conduct by school personnel to law enforcement, [Cherokee County Superintendent of Schools Jeanette] Hedrick said that there are mandatory reporting requirements.

She said the principal has the duty to report the crime if he has personal knowledge that a crime has been committed on school property. However, he is not required to report the incident if it is a mere allegation, she said.

Hedrick said Cherokee County principals investigate incidents as soon as they are reported. The school system may do an internal investigation while an external investtigation is also being conducted.

Cherokee County Superintendent of Schools Jeanette Hedrick said that, on attorney's advise, all she can say is that Oliver was suspended on March 23.

June 12, 2007 - A trial date has been scheduled for mid -September.

NOT GUILTY VERDICT: Sept 25 - On Sept 19, Oliver was found not guilty by a judge after 10-15 minutes of deliberation.

Four students testified for the prosecution, excluding the alleged victim.

Sheila Snow, wife of former judge and state Sen. John Snow (D-Murphy), testified as a character witness for the defense. A fellow teacher of Oliver’s for 25 years at Murphy High, Ms. Snow said she never saw Oliver engage in behavior with female students that was unprofessional.

NOT GUILTY VERDICT

Dover, Delaware

CHARGES DISMISSED.

ARRESTED May 1, 2007 - Damon W. Bethel, 36, a Dover High School special education teacher, was arrested on the charges of coercion and official misconduct.

He is alleged to have coerced a student into driving him to a drug buy, threatening to fail him if he failed to comply. Police investigated and arrested Bethel.

CHARGES DISMISSED Oct 10 - On Sept 18 a judge dismissed misdemeanor charges of acts constituting coercion and official misconduct against 36-year-old Damon W. Bethel.

The Attorney General’s Office then filed a motion to reopen the case, but the judge denied the request.

CHARGES DISMISSED.

Oct 19 - State corrected.

Northport, NEW YORK

ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES.

Mar 27, 2007 - Thomas Baudier, 22, substitute teacher at Northport High School, was arrested and charged with third-degree sexual abuse endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly engaging in sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl he befriended in class.

According to police, a friend of the 16-year-old notified school officials that the substitute teacher in the "Social Issues" class had been involved in "an inappropriate relationship" with a student in the class. School officials notified police.

ACQUITTED Oct 2, 2007 - Baudier acquitted after 10 days of a bench trial.

Judge Alamia rendered his decision Tuesday from the bench, acquitting Baudier of all charges alleged in both cases. The court found the evidence in each case insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES.

Tucson, ARIZONA

ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES.

Sept 25, 2007 - Netzahaulcoy Ramos, 34, a Challenger Middle School teacher, is on trial on six counts of sexual conduct with a minor. The newspaper terms it "a six-month-long sexual affair with a 13-year-old student."

The married father of three is alleged to have begin an affair with the girl on Dec. 31, 2003, and it lasted until June 9, 2004, according to prosecutors.

ACQUITTED: Ramos was acquitted by the jury.

ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES.

Plaistow, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Cleared of all charges

Apr 20, 2007 - Philip Marchand, 47, was arrested in connection with charges of threatening to shoot other school staffers.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal threatening and disorderly conduct.

Marchand made the threat to another teacher on Wednesday and that it was overheard by at least one student. Marchand has been suspended with pay and will not return to work this school year.

TT- Marchand is the second teacher in a week who was arrested for threatening to shoot other employees. Thomas Kincaid of San Antonio, TX, was arrested after making such remarks to another teacher. Link

CLEARED: August 31 - A judge ruled that because Marchand's alleged threat didn't have a "constant result" from those who heard it, that he couldn't say it was a threat beyond a reasonable doubt. Marchand was reimbursed his $5,000 cash bail and his record was cleared.

Marchand resigned June 30 from the school. The arrest was made four days after the Virginia Tech shooting.

Baltimore, MARYLAND

JURY VERDICT IN: NOT GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES

Jan 9, 2007 - A convicted felon who spent six years in prison for a 1995 second-degree murder conviction stemming from a fight was hired to teach in a private school. He's on trial now for rape.

HISTORY: Arrested in 2005, Charles Carroll, a teacher at Community Initiatives Academy is on trial starting this week. He is charged with second-degree rape, child abuse and other counts.

Testimony Tuesday revealed that the school's initial response to the girls' allegations strayed from typical procedure -- and might have violated state law, which requires teachers and others who supervise children to immediately report any signs of abuse to police or social services.

The alleged rape victim testified that when she and her friends approached a trusted teacher with their claims -- about a month after the girl says she was raped -- the teacher told an assistant principal.
The assistant principal then held a meeting that included the accusers and Carroll, who denied he had behaved inappropriately. The meeting did not include parents.

The girl was 15.

[TT-it isn't the first time we have read of children who are forced to confront the accused without a parent present. You can question the motives but the result is to intimidate the student into recanting. Whether this was the intention or not is something authorities ought to investigate.

No child, with or without a a parent, should be required to confront the accused unless police ask for the meeting, police are present throughout the meeting, and they control the setting and clearly state the purpose. It isn't something police will normally will do.]

MISTRIAL: Jan 12, 2007 - The judge has declared a mistrial due to witnesses’ testimony and not an error on the part of the prosecutor. The witnesses referred to allegations of other students.

NEW TRIAL: July 11 - Trial is scheduled to start today.

TRIAL POSTPONED: July 11 - The trial that was scheduled for today has been postponed until August 20th. The reason given is that no courtroom was available.

TRIAL: Jury selection was completed and the trial is scheduled to begin on Wednesday (Aug 22.)

His case focused attention on a regulatory loophole in Maryland, which allowed the school’s principal to hire Carroll even though he was convicted of murder a decade earlier.

NOT GUILTY VERDICT August 27, - A jury found Carroll NOT GUILTY. It took the jury less than a hour to come to their decision. See also Baltimore Sun coverage . Baltimore Examiner reports that the student had filed a civil lawsuit against Caroll and the school, a fact that was pointed out to the jury by Carroll's lawyers.

ALL REMAINING CHARGES DROPPED Nov 13 - All remaining charges have been dropped.

Prosecutors considered the two cases that were dropped today even weaker and said that they were abandoning them "in the interest of justice."

STILL JAILED Dec 3 - Carrolll has yet to be released. Prosecutors said they consider him a violent offender. Carroll is set to appear before a judge again on Tuesday on parole violations.

PROBATION HEARING SCHEDULED Dec 5 - The probation hearing has been rescheduled until next month so that the state's attorney's office could assign a new prosecutor.

PROBATION VIOLATION CHARGES DROPPED Jan 16 - Prosecutors will drop probation violation charges against Carroll because the girl accusing him of rape would not testify at the hearing. She will testify at a hearing on the revocation of Carroll's parole from prison for which he might return to prison for eight years.

In 1995, Carroll had been convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison, half of it suspended. He served six years and 11 months before being freed on parole.

The parole hearing has not been scheduled.

Houston, TEXAS

August 23, 2007 - A jury found Henry Olden Jackson Jr., 28, not guilty of two counts of sexual assault of a child for a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student.

Jackson is a Milby High School teacher. He was arrested in May 2006.

Keller, TEXAS

GRAND JURY DECLINES TO INDICT.

May 15, 2007 - A swim coach for the Carroll Independent School District, was arrested on suspicion of having sexual relations with a student.

The 17-year-old girl reported she had a sexual relationship, which began in March of 2007 with her high school swim coach," Keller police Lt. Brenda Slovak said in a written statement.

Keller and faces a charge of improper relationship between educator and student, a second-degree felony. He is accused of breaking a Texas law that criminalizes sexual relationships between teachers and students even if a student has reached the state's consensual age of 17 and agrees to the relationship.

May 16 - This is the second time in less than a year that a Carroll coach has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. William "Randy" Sherman II resigned in June as head coach of the Carroll Lady Dragons basketball team after Keller police began investigating him. Sherman was arrested in July on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old player at his Keller home, police have said.

The Tarrant County district attorney accepted the case against Sherman in September, but he has not been indicted, according to court records.

UPDATE June 21 - The grand jury DECLINED TO INDICT. Link

Harvard, ILLINOIS

All charges have been dropped.

Nov 14, 2006 - Cynthia M. Spaeth, (Cynthia Spaeth) 55, special education teacher at Harvard High School, was arrested and charged with battery for allegedly slapping a 16-year-old student in the face after a disagreement with him.

District 50 Spokesman Bill Clow would not say whether Spaeth had been suspended after the incident. He did not know how long she had been a teacher at the school.

The Northwest Herald: This is the second time this year that a special-education teacher has been charged in connection with an incident in a Harvard public school, and the third incident involving a McHenry County special-education teacher that has led to charges this year.

Some of the comments to the article are noteworthy.

June 20 - All charges have been dropped. Spaeth still works for Harvard School District.

Saranac Lake, NEW YORK

All charges dropped when D.A. admits he didn't have a case.

Mar 23, 2007 -
Seth Kilburn, 30, a teacher's aide at Saranac Lake Middle School, was arraigned on four misdemeanor counts of forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child. He worked with special education students in area schools.

Kilburn previously worked as a substitute teacher with the Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCE.
The District Attorney said other allegations have surfaced.
Kilburn submitted a letter of resignation before his Mar 5 arrest.

UPDATE June 19 - All charges have been dropped against Kilburn.

According to the district attorney’s office, one claim couldn’t be substantiated because the child was absent from school the day in question and the other alleged incident had occurred after Kilburn had disciplined the student.

Lawyer says alleged victim made similar claims before.

St. Lake City, UTAH

Acquitted by a jury of all charges.

May 12, 2007 - Shelly Acor, 40, an English teacher at Northwest Middle School, was ACQUITTED by a jury of sexually abusing a female student a dozen years ago.

Acor was charged last year in 3rd District Court with three counts of second-degree felony sexual abuse of a child for allegedly touching the then 12-year-old girl's buttocks, breasts and genitalia. She resigned in the wake of the criminal allegations against her.

Acquitted by a jury of all charges.

Charles City, IOWA

Charges dropped due to development of further evidence .

Feb 19, 2007 - Michael Brummond, 53, an eighth grade language arts at Charles City Middle School, was arrested for sexually exploiting a student.

The charges were filed earlier this month. He has been suspended from his duties, placed on paid administrative leave and removed from the classroom. The alleged incident happened in November. A hearing is set for March 5.

Feb 20 - Des Moines Register says that Brummond has been suspended with pay since Feb 15. They also note other Iowa teachers in the news.

Brummond is the latest Iowa educator to be accused of sexual misconduct.

In December, Ed Coughenour, 77, the second-winningest softball coach in Iowa high school history, was charged with six counts of sexual misconduct involving students at Kingsley-Pierson High School. The charges, five aggravated misdemeanors and one felony, stemmed from student complaints of inappropriate touching and language of a sexual nature. Coughenour pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In September, Phillip Padilla, 40, a teacher and coach in the Van Meter school district, resigned after he was charged with sexual assault of a student with whom he had a consensual relationship. He was charged with third-degree sexual assault, lascivious acts with a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor by a school employee. A plea hearing for Padilla is scheduled for this week.

TT - Interesting comments at the news site. The No Child Left Behind comment is a good indicator that the poster is a teacher union representative.

Mar 5 - Brummond pleaded not guilty. His trial is slated to begin April 24.

May 12 -A charge of sexual exploitation by a school employee filed against a Charles City teacher in February has been dropped. Floyd County Attorney Jesse Marzen confirmed he dropped the charge against Michael Brummond on Thursday.Marzen said the situation changed because of the "development of further evidence not available to me in February."

Charge dropped due to development of further evidence

Tempe, ARIZONA

CASE DISMISSED IN FULL.

Apr 19, 2007 - Judith Wallace, 37, a teacher at D.W. Higgins Institute, a charter school in Tempe, was arrested "on accusations that she had sex with a student, who she treated as a boyfriend, authorities said."

Sheriff’s detectives began investigating the case involving a 15-year-old boy in late January 2006. Deputies learned that Wallace gave the teen alcohol and that she would take him to parties and social gatherings, Chagolla said.The boy told detectives that he had sex with her on separate occasions between February and April 2006.

Detectives say Wallace is the daughter of the charter school's owner.

ALL CHARGES DISMISSED IN FULL.
Jan 15, 2008 - Comments closed.

Brooklyn, NEW YORK

ALL CHARGES WERE DROPPED WHEN GIRL'S STORY UNRAVELED.

Mar 23 - All charges were dropped against a Brooklyn, New York janitor who was accused of raping an 8-year-old-girl. Arrested on Monday, he was arraigned then sent to Rikers. Bail was set at $150,000. The very next day, the prosecutors asked for him to be released on his own recognizance as the girl's story unraveled.

Prosecutors said yesterday that during further questioning, they concluded that the child's account had too many inconsistencies to be credible.

ABC7 reported: [The teacher] was overcome with tears at Brooklyn Criminal Court today, after the less than two minute proceeding that ended with an assistant district attorney delivering the words, "The People are dismissing the charges."

School Principal
Mar 21 - Officials reassigned the principal of the school because he allegedly did nothing about another possible abuse case involving the same girl and a different adult.

A Department of Education spokesman said yesterday that Long was being probed about "his alleged failure to report an earlier allegation of child abuse

Thanks to a poster for the tip.

Bruni, TEXAS

ACQUITTED BY JURY

Mar 21 - Robert Muñoz, a Bruni High School Coach, took the stand in his own defense. He is accused of indency with a child.

The trial is in it's 12th day. When asked if there were inconsistencies between the statements he had given to school officials and police, and his testimony in court. Muñoz replied he may have made mistakes in the statement to school officials.

Muñoz also testified that he looked at parts of the alleged victim’s statement to school officials before he made his own statement. But he said he only saw parts of the statement and was not aware of everything she said.

Mar 22 - The jury acquitted Munoz of all charges. (Bottom right) Story continues.

Clarkston, WASHINGTON

Jury verdict: Innocent. As is our policy, we remove the name of the teacher from our blog.

Feb 15, 2007 - A seventh-grade science teacher at Lincoln Middle School, is due in court, accused of sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl.

No other information available.
Update Feb 24 - A jury found INNOCENT of all charges.
Source: Twin Falls Times (found in Google search, but link is broken.]
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (found in Google search, but link is broken.]
N-6

July 13- Thank you, poster, for correction.

Lehigh, FLORIDA

Updated and re-dated. All charges were dismissed by the state's attorney. It is our policy to remove the name of teachers who are found innocent of any wrongdoing.

Nov 10, 2006 - A Lehigh Acres teacher, age 24, was arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a female student under age 16.

He has been suspended without pay, according to a communications director for the Lee County Schools who said he knew neither how much [the teacher] is paid nor what courses he taught.

Feb 7, 2007 - The state's attorney dismissed misdemeanor battery against the Lehigh Acres teacher. All charges have been dropped. According to the state's attorney: We don't think we can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," Thompson said after the court proceedings.

Columbus, OHIO

Update - all charges were dismissed. As is our custom, we remove the teacher's name from our site.

Feb 2, 2007 - A teacher at Millennium Community School, a charter school for kindergarten through fifth grade, was arrested, accused of having sexual relations with a 13-year-old student.

When police arrested him, the girl was in his apartment. She apparently visited there often.

Mar 9 - All charges were dismissed. No newspaper links available. Thanks to a reader for the update.