Mar 2, 2007 -
Thomas Nuckles, 48, a teacher at Country Bear Day School, was convicted of forcible sodomy for molesting a 4-year-old boy while he worked at a Roanoke County day care center.
Nuckles entered an Alford plea, which means he maintained his innocence but did not wish to risk a trial by jury. After hearing a summary of the evidence, Roanoke County Circuit Judge James Swanson found Nuckles guilty.
An astute mother gathered the evidence.
The boy, one of his students, told his mother one day that Nuckles had made a sexual threat toward him, but when the mother questioned Nuckles, he was able to give an innocuous explanation.Full Name: Thomas Daniel Nuckles
Then on April 19, as the boy's mother was driving her son home, he told her Nuckles had performed oral sex on him. She pulled over and questioned her son, who repeated what he'd said and made a gesture demonstrating what he said Nuckles had done.
The boy's mother took him home, separated and bagged his clothes, and called police the next day. DNA swabs were taken from the boy and from Nuckles.
During a November preliminary hearing, the boy, then 5, referred to Nuckles as a "bad person" during testimony.
SENTENCED: August 7 - Nuckles pleaded guilty in March (one online story says he was convicted) and was sentenced to 40 years, suspended after he serves 15.
