Daily Brief - January 31, 2007

Summary for January 31, 2007
A high school principal in Orange, California, was placed on leave after he was arrested for lewd conduct.

Substitute Teachers
In Indiana, a mistrial was declared in the trial of a substitute teacher who is on trial for molesting an 8-year-old student. One of the jurors brought in a newspaper that gave history of the teacher's troubles in other jurisdictions, including other charges and another trial scheduled for February in Illinois.

In Maryland, a substitute teacher was arrested, along with two other women, for sexual misconduct with a boy in a group home.

Guilty
An Arizona teacher pleaded guilty to strangling his wife to death in 2003. He was a teacher's aide.

Scarey
Horrifyingly, a 2nd-grade teacher kept her students hostage when the school put her on leave for erratic behavior.

Background Checks in Texas
A San Antonio, Texas newspaper wondered if background checks were enough. Four school campuses in San Antonio have had problems that include rape, inappropriate touching, sexual misconduct and indecent exposure. They might have a point as two others were arrested today and one sentenced.

Arrests
An Arizona teacher was arrested for alleged sex with a student. While a coach and P.E. teacher in Texas was found with cocaine, steroids, and 51 steroid needles in a traffic stop. A bus driver in the school district was arrested for allegedly selling drugs to students.

Sentenced
A Texas teacher was sentenced to two years for having sex with a student.
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Six women outnumbered male teachers today.

The Teacher Trash of the Day, however, has to be the Pennsylvania teacher who claimed the 16-year-old student raped her, but she wants to be in a probation program.

FOLLOW LINKS FOR UPDATED INFORMATION.

SUMMARY - January 30, 2007

Today's Posts and Updates

INDIANA Update
A Bunker Hill, Indiana teacher was sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to sexual contact with a student. In the courtroom, he pleaded for no jail time. "stating he had suffered publicly and was stripped of a career, retirement and dignity."
Hard to feel sorry for him when the student was 12-or 13-years-old.

FLORIDA Update
A major child pornography ring was busted after one year of investigation. One teacher was sentenced to 40 years, a Kentucky man committed suicide, and prosecutors filed two felony child abuse charges against a 44-year-old associate dean at University of Florida Law School.
It's a major bust.

Newly Arrested
a A part-time school librarian and teacher's assistant in Indianapolis.

a A teacher and coach in Florida arrested and charged with having sex with a 17-year-old female student.

a A band teacher -- that brings us to 14 - in Illinois was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust. In connection with involvement with a 17-year old student.
It's a crime in Illinois for teachers to have sex with students. Most parents think it should be a crime everywhere.

Sentenced

A San Mateo, California teacher for possession of stolen goods was sentenced to six months in jail and three years probation.

Resigned

An Irvine, Texas teacher resigned amid allegations that he solicited a sexual act from a 12-year-old boy in November. But parents weren't notified. It didn't happen at school.

Other News
A teacher in Tennesee has been suspended while school authorities investigate "reportedly inappropriate photos of her next to photos of students on her MySpace page."

A poster at a news site wonder why the newspaper didn't provide a link as it was public domain. Good question.

In the meantime, another Tennessee teacher isn't going to be teaching anytime soon. The state board of education pulled her license to teach after she was was sentenced last year to prison for statutory rape of a student. The good news is that "Her revocation will also go into a national registry accessible by other states, said a spokesman for the board."
The bad news is she was only sentenced to 6 months in jail and three years probation.

FINGERPRINT CLEARANCES
In Arizona, teachers are responsible for keeping their fingerprint clearance cards up to date. [We're still wondering why the clearances are only good for six years and it's not the responsibility of the school district to submit fingerprints for clearances.]

Some 52 teachers were not allowed back into classrooms in November because their cards had expired. It cost the district $25,000 a week to pay for substitutes.
At that rate, they could afford to hire a full-time person just to track down teachers, gather the fingerprints, submit them and certify the results to the state. However, that would be a solution. Maybe it's a way to take a long holiday.

Reminder- we have a collection of links and resources at TT-Resources.blogspot.com

SUMMARY - January 29, 2007

Two teachers guilty on child pornography charges
A Virginia teacher, Robert Hatcher, was sentenced to 17 years for one count of knowingly receiving and distributing child pornography. He was arrested in May 2006. A schoolteacher and coach in Texas pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. He will be sentenced in April.

Molestation
Also pleading guilty, a Sylmar, California teacher, Eduardo Colocho, who pleaded no contest to molesting several teenage boys will be sentenced Feb 7.

Teacher's Aides
Teacher's aides continue to be in the news. (And about half the time the media spells "aide" correctly.) In Tennesee, Pattty Jo Singleton, a teacher's aide was indicted for solicitation of a minor - a 15-year-old. They are wondering in Alabama how teacher's aide Patrick Epkins was considered acceptable with a criminal record that included theft, a restraining order, several bad check charges, and still hire him to work for at-risk children. He's now accused of raping one.

March 7th is the trial date for Michigan teacher who is accused of sending pornographic pictures to a former student.

Special Education
In an unusual and disturbing move, a judge in Florida ordered that five severely disabled autistic teenagers must testify in the trial of Kathleen Garrett. None of the children is mentally competent, according to court records and (according to) attorneys for both sides. Some cannot talk. The teacher was arrested in 2004. The defense lawyer just wants the jury to "to see how they look and behave."

Lawsuit
Meanwhile, another family is suing a school district in connection with a teacher who pleaded guilty to "a relationship" with a 16-year-old girl.

Bizarre, but Massachusetts
Oh, and that Massachusetts teacher who drove under his brother's name? Seems he had more reasons than just eccentricity.

SUMMARY - January 25, 2007

UPDATED TODAY

Curtis Bibb, assistant superintendent of Gainesville City, Florida, schools, resigned. He is facing three drug charges in South Carolina. He was hired despite an earlier conviction for marijuana. He was kept on despite being briefly suspended when a maintenance supervisor failed a drug test but continued to drive a school bus and despite the fact that Bibb "wasn't showing up for meetings, or he was showing up late and not remembering things." TT link.

SENTENCED
Jeffrey Harvey was sentenced to 6 to 12 months behind bars, and will also serve one year probation for engaging in a sexual relationship with his 17 year old student. News item link. TT link.

Also sentenced was Francis Lyvers, the Lebanon, Kentucky teacher after pleading guilty to an amended charge of first-degree wanton endangerment. The girl was underage. He was given five years of supervised pretrial diversion. He has to serve 90 days in jail and admit on the record that he had consensual sex with the victim. TT link.

OUTRAGE OF THE DAY
Dennis Carter of Birmingham, Michigan, pleaded guilty for a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student. He bought the student an extra phone on his plan because, as the former student testified, "my mom saw the cell phone bill for my plan and there were hundreds of calls and text messages from him. So he bought a different phone and gave it to me so my mom would think there was no contact."

Carter's lawyer had this to say,

"It's just unfortunate the law put him in this predicament," Sabbota said. "The fact is, she was a full participant in all the activities. She knew what she was doing"

Yeah. Only problem was he was 52.

SUMMARY - January 24, 2007

UPDATED TODAY

Julie Amero- the substitute convicted for porn on school computer may have found her best defender.
In a special presentation the Board of Education, Robert Hartz, the school district's information systems director, told the board of education that the company that supplies the school's content-filter software failed to send him the necessary paperwork to activate an updated version of the filter prior to the 2004 school year. He "blamed himself for the computer pornography incident, saying he may have overlooked an invoice for the update." TT- link

Outrage of the Day

There are really two of them.
The sentence for Dion Savage ought to make any parent infuriated. Twenty-seven months and one year home confinement for statutory rape of a student, pornographic pictures of another, and a "withering sentencing report" that newspapers fail to examine. But then, they insisted on calling it "a 10-month affair." TT-link.

In Exeter, Pennsylvania, Matthew Gelormini was finally sent to prison, two years and three victims too late. TT-link. In such cases, you wonder if suing the judge shouldn't be an option.

Media Malfeasance

Bad enough that the two Delaware news sources insist on referring to statutory rape as "an affair" or a "sexual affair," at least they will keep their stories available more than 20 hours. Not so the (California) Pasadena Star-News that whips them into an archive where they can't be reliably retrieved. Less than 13 hours after a news story on Julio Cardoza was posted to their site, it is no longer available. TT link. [Jan 25 - new link - Article Launched: 01/23/2007 11:28:06 PM PST]

SUMMARY - January 23, 2007

Updated Today
Follow links for updated information.


Scam artist Candice Lambert, the teacher who pretended to have cancer, was sentenced to one to three years in prison for the scam.
News article link. TT link.

In Connecticut, Julie Amero, the substitute teacher who was convicted of exposing middle school teens to graphic Web sites in class, had earlier rejected a plea agreement that would have resulted in probation.
News article link. TT link.

A plea agreement is possible in the Carrie McCandless case. The 29-year-old McCandless is accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior with a 17-year-old male student. David Mundy Sr., former president of the Brighton charter school board, is also facing charges for not disclosing the incident to police. David Mundy, his son, was sentenced Jan 11 to to 90 days in jail and 10 years of probation for sexual contact with three girls while he was a substitute at the school. TT link.
News article link. TT link.

SUMMARY - January 19, 2007

Two teachers guilty on child pornography charges
A Virginia teacher, Robert Hatcher, was sentenced to 17 years for one count of knowingly receiving and distributing child pornography. He was arrested in May 2006. A schoolteacher and coach in Texas pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. He will be sentenced in April.

Molestation
Also pleading guilty, a Sylmar, California teacher, Eduardo Colocho, who pleaded no contest to molesting several teenage boys will be sentenced Feb 7.

Teacher's Aides
Teacher's aides continue to be in the news. (And about half the time the media spells "aide" correctly.) In Tennesee, Pattty Jo Singleton, a teacher's aide was indicted for solicitation of a minor - a 15-year-old. They are wondering in Alabama how teacher's aide Patrick Epkins was considered acceptable with a criminal record that included theft, a restraining order, several bad check charges, and still hire him to work for at-risk children. He's now accused of raping one.

March 7th is the trial date for Michigan teacher who is accused of sending pornographic pictures to a former student.

Special Education
In an unusual and disturbing move, a judge in Florida ordered that five severely disabled autistic teenagers must testify in the trial of Kathleen Garrett. None of the children is mentally competent, according to court records and (according to) attorneys for both sides. Some cannot talk. The teacher was arrested in 2004. The defense lawyer just wants the jury to "to see how they look and behave."

Lawsuit
Meanwhile, another family is suing a school district in connection with a teacher who pleaded guilty to "a relationship" with a 16-year-old girl.

Bizarre, but Massachusetts
Oh, and that Massachusetts teacher who drove under his brother's name? Seems he had more reasons than just eccentricity.

Summary - January 17, 2007

It's been a rough year for the Jacksonville Missisippi, School District. With one teacher accused of murder and another convicted this week, today a teacher is being investigated after being arrested and charged with possessing cocaine.

Jacksonville might be rough, but Massachusetts is decidedly weird.

A teacher was arrested for drunk driving and, turns out, he drives under a license in his deceased brother's name. Apparently, the teacher was wanted on traffic warrants - three of em. The disabled placard covered with black tape found in his car was reported missing for two years. (We're willing to bet that someone from Massachusetts will comment that he probably found it and was on his way to return it to the poor woman. In December, we reported on a principal arrested for throwing cigarettes over the wall to her convict son. We barely supressed the desire to say it was a early Christmas present. One of her defenders did it for us. And they meant it.)

A Miami school is in trouble for not reporting criminal activity - the Miami Herald hints that they waited until the end of the football season because he was the football star and it was an award-winning season.

An Ohio teacher was arrested for theft and misuse of a credit card. It's a relief after all the Ohio teachers who have been arrested on drug charges. Including today's 54-year old special education teacher who was arrested for allowing drugs in her house for her husband who was arrested on drug charges. The son was once "a former Tribune Chronicle Fugitive of the Week — wanted on drug possession charges."

All that, a few others, and a deer in the headlights photo.

Summary - January 17, 2007

It's been a rough year for the Jacksonville Missisippi, School District. With one teacher accused of murder and another convicted this week, today a teacher is being investigated after being arrested and charged with possessing cocaine.

Jacksonville might be rough, but Massachusetts is decidedly weird.

A teacher was arrested for drunk driving and, turns out, he drives under a license in his deceased brother's name. Apparently, the teacher was wanted on traffic warrants - three of em. The disabled placard covered with black tape found in his car was reported missing for two years. (We're willing to bet that someone from Massachusetts will comment that he probably found it and was on his way to return it to the poor woman. In December, we reported on a principal arrested for throwing cigarettes over the wall to her convict son. We barely supressed the desire to say it was a early Christmas present. One of her defenders did it for us. And they meant it.)

A Miami school is in trouble for not reporting criminal activity - the Miami Herald hints that they waited until the end of the football season because he was the football star and it was an award-winning season.

An Ohio teacher was arrested for theft and misuse of a credit card. It's a relief after all the Ohio teachers who have been arrested on drug charges. Including today's 54-year old special education teacher who was arrested for allowing drugs in her house for her husband who was arrested on drug charges. The son was once "a former Tribune Chronicle Fugitive of the Week — wanted on drug possession charges."

All that, a few others, and a deer in the headlights photo.